When Ghosts Come Back to Haunt
by bri206
Summary: What would happen if all of Oliver's dead loved ones showed up one day. Oliver will deal with the consequences of his ghosts coming back to Haunt.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys here is a new story that came to me and I thought I would share it. I do need to let you know that William does not exist in this story. So, I hope you enjoy it and I can't wait to hear what you think.**

Walking through the familiar elevator doors of the executive floor in Queen Industries, Oliver makes his way to his former and his wife's current office. Earlier this evening, Felicity had called and asked him to pick up some important files that she had left on her desk before she had left for Gotham City several days ago.

When he reaches the glass doors of the CEO office, he stops and takes a moment to really soak in the space. Looking around he had noticed a couple things that had not been there since the last time he had visited this office. Like for instance, the little chair and table near the window, with a coloring book and crayons perfectly placed on top of the flat surface. And the red roses he had sent her a couple days ago, that were silently wilting away, which made him make a mental note to buy her new ones. But the biggest difference that caught his eye, was the new picture frame that sat upon her desk.

Walking over with curiosity, he soon finds the newest picture to join her collection of 'happy moments', as she likes to consider the many pictures that graze her desk. It is a picture of him and her at one of the dinners they had had with the team, Lyla and Thea. The picture was of them gazing into each other's eyes lovingly, as if they were the only two there, but the best part of the picture in his opinion was how her eyes lit up and her soft smile made her radiate with beauty. He had to remember to thank Thea for this beautiful picture.

Shaking his head, he gets back to the reason he came here in the first place, "Files". Looking through the many drawers she said they could be found, he finally finds them. When he reaches for the last one that is in the top shelf of the filing cabinet, he hears shuffling coming from outside of the door. Turning quickly to assess the area and the cause of the sound, his senses go full on Green Arrow mode.

As he continues to look for the reason behind the sound, he mindlessly grabs the first thing that he could use as a deadly weapon if the time arose, the scissors.

Preparing himself to attack, he soon finds out that that is the last thing he will have to do, because as soon as he is about to strike, the root of the noise appears through the glass door, and he goes motionless.

Looking at the many faces that have walked into the office, he realizes that he is holding his breath.

"Ollie, are you ok?" the first voice asks worried.

"Oliver, darling is everything alright?" comes the second guest.

But it is not until the next one speaks that he realizes that this is not a dream.

"Oliver, son, what's wrong?"

Taking a sporadic breath, he finally finds his voice. "Dad?" he whispers. And then his gaze ventures over to the other faces spread around the room. "Mom? Tommy? Laurel?"

Taking a deep breath, he tries to tell himself "this isn't real, this isn't real. They aren't here, they're dead" and he keeps repeating this over and over to himself until he realizes that it's not working, because they were all still standing in the office.

"Oh, Sweetheart, are you ok?" Moira asks.

"Yeah, Ollie, you look like you've seen a ghost" Laurel jokes.

"Better yet, multiple ghosts" Tommy adds, which brings out a laugh out of everyone but Oliver, who is still trying to comprehend what he is seeing.

When he finally finds his voice again, the first thing that manages to make it out of his mouth is "What are you doing here… how are you here?"

"Well crazy story, we all somehow ended up at the docks and we have absolutely no idea how we got there, but somehow, we got there, and then your dad thought that we should come here, and here we are" Tommy said, as if he were telling Oliver a normal story.

As Oliver tries to wrap his mind around the idea of all of his dead loved ones standing right in front of him, alive, and the story Tommy just said, all he can do is shut his eyes and nod his head.

"Ollie, are you ok?" Laurel asks laying her hand on his shoulder trying to get him to open his eyes, so that they will meet hers.

When he does finally open them, he finally says "yeah, no I'm fine, I just have a bit of a headache. It's nothing."

"Well, that's good because we have been walking for the last fifteen minutes and it would be nice to go home, what do you say Oliver?" Moira asks as she looks at her son with a look that means, this is not up for discussion.

And he only responds with a forced smile and a slight head nod. "Yeah, I was actually just heading out."

"Well, great" she responds and then turns and makes her way to the elevators.

When she leaves the room, soon everyone follows and he just shakes his head one more time, making sure that this really isn't a dream or hallucination, he finally takes a deep breath and grabs the three files his wife asked for and soon followed his guests.

When they make it down to the parking garage, he is very thankful that he decided to drive the Range Rover today, instead of his bike, or else he would have been screwed.

"Is this new Ollie?" Laurel asked with curiosity painting her features.

"Um, yeah" he said getting into the driver's seat, while everyone piles into the back.

When he pulled out of the parking lot, he made his way to his home. When he got on the highway that would lead him to his house, his mother's confused voice, floated over him.

"Um, Oliver aren't you going the wrong way? The Queen Manor is the other way."

"I'm well aware mother, but we're not going there." He said calmly.  
"What do you mean, we're not going there?" she asks with a hard voice.

"Ok, listen there is something that you need to know, I don't know what year you think you are in, but I can guarantee you that you're not. You are in the year 2021."

At that revelation, everyone's eyes go big in surprise and shock.

"What do you mean, we're in the year 2021? That's impossible" Robert said.

"Well… technically yes, but it's complicated" he stutters as he tries to find the right words. "But I think something happened to you guys and somehow you ended up on the docks and right now I am as clueless as you are, and I promise that we'll figure this out but for right now I am going to take you to my home and give you a place to sleep."

As he says those words, he pulls into the long driveway that leads him to his beautiful home.

When the car reaches the front entrance, he stops and turns off the engine. Getting out everyone else follows and their eyes go big once again.

"This is where you live?" Tommy asked.

"Yeah, I mean I know it's not as big as the Queen Manor, but it's home" he says shrugging his shoulders and makes his way to the front door.

When he opens the door and walks in, everyone else follows and continue to look at their new surroundings.

"Can I get you anything to drink or eat?" he asks turning around to them.

As the question is hanging in the air, they all realize just how hungry they truly are.

"Well, actually food does sound really good right about now" Laurel says gazing into his eyes.

"Ok, um let me see if I have anything" he says turning back around and making his way to the kitchen.

When he gets there, he immediately walks to the refrigerator and looks to find anything to eat.

"Well I have left over chicken marsala, or I can whip up something real quick" he says as he continues to gaze into the stocked fridge.

"Oh, darling you don't have to do that, I think the chicken sounds perfect."

"Ok, then give me five minutes" he says pulling out the food and grabbing plates and begins to prepare their meal.

30 minutes later, with everyone satisfied, appetite wise, Laurel finally asks the question everyone has been wondering since they walked into the large home.

"So, Ollie, do you live here alone?"

"Um, no" he says clearing off the dishes. "I live here with my wife."

And unknowingly to him, Laurel gives off a deep blush and a wide grin.

"Oh, wow so your saying that the most eligible bachelor of all time finally got hitched?" Tommy asked in a teasing tone.

"Yeah, don't act so surprised" he says grinning at his friend.  
"Oh, I am surprised because marriage was the last thing that I would have ever imagined you ever getting involved with."

"Well, let's just say that this woman made me rethink my life and see everything differently" he says with a secret smile.

And out of the corner of his eye he swears he sees Laurel grinning like a happy school girl, but he doesn't think too much about it and proceeds to the next task, rooms.

"I'm going to go get your rooms ready, and I'll be back" he says as he disappears upstairs.

When everyone is finally settled down in their bedrooms, Oliver finally makes his way down the stairs and into the living room. But before he can make it to the couch, there is light knock on the door. Changing direction, he makes his way to the front door.

After he slowly opens it, his lips form into a soft smile. "Hi, Speedy" he whispers, as he is cautious of the little boy in her arms. "Did you have fun today?"

"Oh, yeah we had so much fun at the zoo, but he made me pinky swear that I would let him tell you all about his exciting adventure he had today." She says with a smile dancing across her lips as she whispers to her brother.

"Did he now? That's my boy" he said proudly, as he slowly takes the little boy out of his sister's arms. "Thank you so much Thea, City Hall was an absolute disaster today, I honestly don't know what I would do without you?"

"Don't even worry about it, I love spending time with my nephew and I know he loves getting spoiled by me, so it's a win win situation" she says smiling.

"Thanks again Thea" he says hugging her and kissing her on the forehead.

"Anytime. Goodnight Ollie" she says making her way to her car.

"Goodnight Thea" he says as she gets into her car and he waits until she drives away before he goes inside and closes the door.

Walking up the stairs for the third time that night he finally makes his way to his little boy's room.

Laying him down in the toddler bed and tucking him in, Oliver finally gives his son a kiss on the forehead and whispers "Goodnight Tommy."

With a deep sigh, Oliver opens his eyes with the soft glow of sunlight, illuminating his face. When the events of last night came rushing back, he takes a deep breath, preparing himself for the day ahead of him.

Slowly getting out of bed, he decides he needs a nice hot shower to truly brace himself for the unknown that will occur today.

When he gets out of the shower, he dresses into some dark jeans and a dark blue Henley and makes his way to the kitchen to start making breakfast.

After about 20 minutes he is immersed in making pancakes with his homemade strawberry sauce and scrambled eggs that he decided to make. He was so focused on the task in front of him he didn't hear his guests walk in.

"What is that wonderful smell?" Tommy asks sniffing the air.

As the rest of them emerge into the kitchen, they find who is responsible for waking them up with the amazing smell of breakfast.

"Oliver? You cook?" Moira asks looking at her son like he had lost his mind.

Looking up from the glaze he was making, he looks at his mother and gives her a shy smile. "Um yeah, a little."

"Since when?" Laurel asks looking equally dumbstruck.

"Since about a couple years ago" he said turning his attention back to the sauce.

"What… you know, I don't even want to know" Tommy said laughing, and Oliver just shakes his head at his friend's amusement.

Before Oliver can jab back at his friend, a pair of small feet shuffle down the hall and the next word he hears is "Daddy" yelled excitedly by his three-year-old son.

"Hey Buddy" Oliver says wiping his hands and making his way over to the end of the counter and bending down, so that his son can run and jump into his arms, and a few seconds later he does just that.

When his son reaches his father, he holds onto Oliver as if he hadn't seen him in weeks. "Hi daddy" he says leaning back to look his father in his eyes, and then leans in and kisses him on the lips, which Oliver happily accepts. After ending the kiss, he goes back to holding tight onto Oliver and laying his head on his shoulder.

Picking him up from the floor, Oliver rubs his back and whispers in the little boy's ear, "did you sleep ok?" and he only gets a head nod on his shoulder, as he makes his way back to the eggs cooking.

All while the little boy and his father are in their own little bubble of happiness, the rest of the visitors watch the duo speechless and surprised.

"Where's mama?"

"Mama should be home soon" Oliver says flipping a pancake with one hand, while holding Tommy in the other arm.

"Straw-berr-y" stuttered as he looked at the red fruit on the counter.

"Yeah that's a strawberry, good job buddy" he said proudly while he grabs the berry and hands it to him. "You like strawberries, don't you?"

"Yeah" he says putting his head back on his father's shoulder.

And as the group continues to watch Oliver play a role they had never seen him nor ever imagined him in, Laurel reacts happily to the news she had just heard.

When she had first seen, the little boy run into the room, she felt a sense of happiness course through her veins, knowing that that little boy was hers, at least she thought he was.

Before she could continue to think about her future family, a door opens in the hall and a pair of high heels are heard shuffling in.

As soon as this happens the little boys head snaps up and he looks into Oliver's eyes with excitement.

"Who is that?" Oliver asks matching his son's excitement.

"Mommy?" he screeches.

"I don't know, why don't you go find out?" Oliver asks as he sets the boy down on the ground and as soon as his feet touch the floor he sprints out of the room as quickly as his little legs will allow him.

Felicity walks in feeling tired and restless, as she sets down her purse that feels like it weighs a hundred pounds, she is immediately welcomed to her little boy running towards her.

"Mommy" Tommy says running towards her with his arms spread wide.

"Hey Buddy", she says leaning down to pick him up and embrace him into a big hug. When she is fully standing, she adjusts him perfectly over her burgeoning 7-month baby bump.

Breathing in the scent of her son, she closes her eyes and smiles unconsciously as she finally knows she is home. She lets her fingers glide through his soft, dark chestnut hair. As Tommy snuggles into her neck, he leans back and looks her in the eyes and whispers, "I missed you" and she softly responds, "I missed you too" and then he frames her face with his small hands and brings her into a kiss, which she gladly returns.

When he breaks the kiss, he goes back to hugging her and gazes behind her.

"Hey little man" Dig says winking at him.

"Hi, Uncle Dig" he says contentedly with a smile.

As the mother and son continue to enjoy the moment of feeling each other's embrace, a presence comes into her vision and causes her to break out into a smile of relief.

"Hi" she whispers.

"Hi" he responds as he comes closer to her and takes her into his arms and kisses her.

With her eyes still closed and a deep satisfied sigh escaping her lips she says "Now I'm home."

"Yes you are." He says continuing to look at her, but she can tell something is bothering him.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong, is just that…" he says looking around and then finally decides to take this conversation outside. "Why don't we go outside?"

"Outside, why? I just came in" she says as he ushers her and Dig out the door.

When they are outside, Felicity turns around clearly flustered.

"What is going on?"

"I… It's complicated." He says trying to find the best way to bring up the conversation to his teammates.

Catching onto the important talk, Felicity instantly looks down at her son and says "Hey buddy why don't you go pick some pretty flowers for me?"

"Ok" he says eagerly, as she sets him down on the ground. And then he's off to find the prettiest flower for his mother.

When Tommy is out of earshot, she turns her attention back to Oliver. "Ok what is going on?"

"Well, I don't know how to say this."

"Man we have battled Aliens, nothing can surprise us" Dig said with his arms crossed across his chest.

"Ok, well my parents, Laurel, and Tommy are alive and sitting in the kitchen."

When he gets done with his revelation, Felicity and Dig look at him and then look at each other and then burst out laughing. When they realize that Oliver isn't laughing, they both quickly sober up.

"Oh, wait you're not kidding?"

"Why would I joke about all the dead people in my life?" he asks seriously.

"I'm sorry it's just… never mind. So how are they even here?" she asks watching her husband very carefully.

"I have absolutely no idea, they showed up at your office last night, when I went to grab those files you asked for. They keep saying that they mysteriously appeared at the docks, but don't remember how."

"So, let me get this straight, they just showed up out of nowhere. How much do they know?" Dig asked.

"Not much, other than the fact that it is the year 2021. But the thing is, they're from before the island, I don't know far before, but they definitely have absolutely no idea about the Gambit going down, or me disappearing for five years."

"Oh, this isn't good" Felicity says taking a deep breath.

"No, it's not" Dig agreed.

"Wait" she said confused, "you said they were all from before the island, do you mean even Laurel?"

"Especially Laurel."

"Oh, well that's just great I have the lovely Laurel Lance, ex-girlfriend of Ollie Queen to deal with… perfect."

"Mommy, mommy look, I found flowers."

"Yes, you did" she said turning her attention to her son, who had several daisies in his hands. "Their beautiful" she says taking them from his hands.

"So, what do you want to do?" Dig asks directing Oliver's attention back to him.

Taking a deep breath, he says "I guess call Barry and ask him if anything out of the ordinary has happened, because if there's anyone who would know anything about this, it's him."

Nodding, Dig says ok and starts to make his way to the car. When he opens the door, he looks back at his partner, "alright I'll see what I can find and I'll call you if anything comes up, in the meantime keep them on the DL", and Oliver silently nods in agreement. "Bye little guy, I'll see you soon."

"Bye Uncle Dig" Tommy says waving.

And with that, Diggle starts the engine and pulls out of the driveway.

"Well, this is not how I intended on being welcomed home today."

"I know, but I have a very special breakfast surprise for you."

"Ooh strawberry pancakes with extra strawberries?"

"Maybe" he says pulling her into a side hug and kissing her head, "you're just going to have to come inside and find out."

"I don't know Oliver, once everyone realizes that I'm not the destined Laurel Lance, they're all going to hate me."

"They're not going to hate you" he says shaking his head.

"Yes they are."

Before he can argue, Tommy comes running back with more daises, "momma more daisies."

"I see that, thank you."

"Oh, momma, momma guess what I did yesterday?"

"What did you do yesterday?"

"I saw monkeys!"

"What? You saw monkeys?"

Nodding his head really excitedly, he goes on with his babble of his day at the zoo with Aunt Thea, as she picks him up and then they make their way back into the house.

When they get to the kitchen, Felicity makes sure to keep her attention on her son, so that she doesn't see her unwanted visitors.

"And then he went 'ROAR'" he says making his hands into little claws.

Laying down the daises on the counter she quickly responds, "are you sure he didn't go 'GRRR'" she asks as she imitates the claws.

"No mommy" he laughs, "he went 'ROAR'."

"Ok, if you say so." She says shrugging.

"Hey, why don't you go sit down and I will make you a plate."  
"Oh, you don't have to, I can…" but before she can finish he presses his lips to hers and says, "I insist."

"Ok, well if you insist" she says playfully and turns around for the first time.

When she sees the people, Oliver had told her were here, for the first time, it suddenly all becomes real. Her breath hitches and for a moment she can't breathe, it's not until, Oliver puts his hand on her shoulder that she finally feels like she can take in air again.

Finally seeing the people in front of her, she looks at all the people Oliver has lost and doesn't quite know what to do with herself, she almost feels like she doesn't fit in, in her own home. But she doesn't have to wait long to do anything because Laurel beats her to the punch.

"Who are you?" she asks bitterly.

Taking a deep breath Felicity prepares to answer the question, but once again she is interrupted before she can even form words.

"Everyone I would like you to meet someone, this is Felicity… my wife. And this is my son…" taking a deep breath, he continues "Tommy." As he says the name, he looks up at his best friend and sees pure emotion float through his eyes for a second, but is then replaced with his typical Tommy Merlin façade, as he approaches Felicity.

"No, my mama" her little boy says holding onto her tightly.

"Yes, buddy, she is your mom" Oliver said grinning.

"Well, it is nice to meet the woman that tied Ollie down" he said stretching out his hand. "I'm Tommy, but I'm sure you already knew that" he says with his Merlyn charm and Oliver can't contain his grin.

Returning the handshake, she gives him a smile, "it's a pleasure to meet you, Tommy."

"And you as well little man" he says to the little boy who hides his face even deeper into his mother's neck.

"Sorry, he's a little shy" she says with a smile.

"That's ok, we'll talk later" he said winking, stepping back and never letting his charming smile ever break from his face.

Oliver just shakes his head and silently laughs and remember just how much he missed his best friend.

When Tommy returns to his place beside Robert, Robert's trance breaks and he makes his way in front of Felicity.

"It is very nice to meet you Felicity."

"You as well Mr. Queen…I mean Robert…can I call you Robert…never mind, Mr. Queen" she babbles quickly and when Oliver notices her nervousness, he softly puts his hands on her shoulder and she instantly calms down.

When she meets his eyes, he reassures her that it's ok and she takes a deep breath, and Robert releases a soft chuckle.

"Robert will do" he says smiling at her and then he turns his attention to the little boy still holding on tightly to Felicity.

"Hello Tommy, it's nice to meet you" he says holding out a hand and slowly, the little boy loosens his hold on his mother and lifts his head from her shoulder and gives him a high five. After he touches the older man's hand, he immediately goes back to hiding and holding onto his mother tightly.

When Robert returns to his spot, the next person Felicity sees is Moira, but of course she isn't as welcoming as the first two guys.

As she looks at Moira all she feels are the eyes sending daggers at her and she notices the way her lips purse together and the way her head is held high as if she were about to fight a battle. But before she can hear her pungent comment, Laurel beats her to the punch.

"Is this some kind of joke?"

As Felicity shifted her gaze between Laurel and Moira, her eyes meet the daggers once again. Ignoring Laurel's question, Moira speaks instead.

"I have a wonderful idea, why don't we all have dinner tonight, so we can get to know you Felicity?" Moira asks through clench teeth and a sour smile.

"Yeah, so we can figure out why you ended up with this life and I didn't" Laurel seethed.

Taking a deep breath Oliver looks down uncomfortably and puts his hands in his pocket, while Felicity also takes a deep breath trying to keep her anger at bay for her son's sake, and ignores the jab and turns her attention to Oliver.

"Well, as much as I would love to stay and talk, I need to get to QI to finish some paperwork, and I think I will take this little guy with me." Turning to her attention to the little boy in her arms, she asks, "Do you want to spend the day with mommy and go play in her office?"

And the little boy nods excitedly "Yes!"

"Great, well then, it was nice to meet all of you, and I guess I will see all of you later for dinner." And without another word, she walks past them and out of the room.

When she's out of sight, Tommy gives a low whistle and says "Damn Ollie" and Oliver only responds with an eye roll. This was going to be a long day.

 **So, I hoped you enjoyed this chapter and I would love to hear what you have to say!**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Felicity is down in the lair trying to find out how the ghosts arrived. Earlier in the day she had gone to QI and signed some paperwork and then immediately went to the lair.

While she is doing this, Dig is working out and Tommy is sitting at the table drawing a picture.

"Uncle Dig, look" Tommy says when he gets done with the picture.

Turning his attention to his Godson, Dig walks over to the little boy and looks at the picture Tommy is holding up.

"Wow, that is so good!"

"That is me, you, and daddy!"

"That is so good Tommy, you are quite the artist, little man." And the little boy shyly blushes and says thank you.

All three of them are soon distracted by the sound of the elevator doors opening. Oliver arrives and comes out of the elevator.

"Hey, have you found anything?"

"Not yet, apparently, there aren't any cameras down by the docks so I'm looking for those paranoid boat owners who have cameras, but I'm striking out so far."

"Ok, well keep looking."

"Wait, how did you get out of the house?" she asks glancing suspiciously at him.

"I told them I had a meeting to get to, hence the apparel" Oliver says gesturing over his suit.

"Very sly Oliver Queen" she says with a smirk, while turning her attention back to her monitors.

Smiling he then turns his attention to his other partner.

"Did you get a hold of Team Flash?"

"Yeah, they'll be here tomorrow morning."

"Ok"

"Yes!" Felicity says giving a mini fist pump.

"What happened?" Oliver said making his way over to her, with Dig following close behind.

"See, I knew there would be some paranoid yacht owner that installed cameras."

"What did you find?" Dig asks.

"This" she says pulling up the footage off the camera. On the footage, there is a blue portal that appears and all four of them appear. "Wait a second, that can't be right" she says.

"What?" Oliver asks turning his gaze from the computer screen.

"It's just the four of them, where is the cause of this portal?" she asked in confusion.

"I don't know but why don't we wait until Barry and Cisco get here and then they can look at it?"

She only nods, and then he stands back up from leaning over her chair.

"Ok, well why don't you keep looking, and I will take Tommy home and start on dinner." "Dinner?" Dig asked.

"Yeah, Moira thought it would be a great idea to have the dinner from hell" Felicity said sarcastically while not looking up from her screens.

"The meeting went that well, huh?" Dig asks sympathetically.

"Oh, yeah it was peachy, just as I thought, they hate me, shocking."

"Ok, maybe the meeting didn't go as well as I had hoped, but once they see the beautiful, smart woman I see they will understand how important you are to me and why I love you.

"I highly doubt that, but thank you for the sweet words. At least Tommy and your father like me."

Smiling he lays a kiss on her lips "Yeah they do." Walking towards his little boy, he leans down to lay a kiss in his hair, "You ready to go, little guy?"

"Yeah! Daddy look at the picture I drew."

"That is so good, buddy. Can we hang up on the wall?"

"Yeah!"

"Ok, let's put it right over here" he said pointing to the wall by the table. And he grabs some tape and puts it up there.

"Per-fect" Tommy said, which earned laughs from all the adults.

"Alright I will see you at eight."

"Do I have to go?" she pouts.

"Yes, eight" he says leaning over her and presses one final kiss to her lips and then breaks it.

"Ok" she sighs.

"Yeah if you don't mind I need to fill Lyla in and check on J.J."

"Yeah, I'll be fine down here."

"Are you sure?" Dig asks turning towards her.

"Positive."

"Ok, then I will see you tomorrow" he says planting a kiss on her hair, and without another word the boys make their way to the elevators.

"Bye, have fun" she says while her eyes never leave the computer.

"Bye" Tommy says and Felicity turns to look at them in the elevator and she blows them a kiss and Tommy returns it, before the doors close.

When Oliver arrives home, he gets Tommy out of the car and piggybacks him into the house.

"Alright buddy, let's get you some food" he says, guiding them to the kitchen.

About 30 minutes later he slides a grilled cheese cut in triangles, carrots, and apple slices, over to his excited little boy.

"There you go little man."

"Thank you, daddy."

"Your welcome" he says turning his attention back to the chicken cordon bleu he was making. "Is it good?" he asks glancing at his son sitting right across from him, who had just stuffed his face with one of the pieces of grilled cheese.

"Mmm" the boy nods happily.

What the two boys didn't know, was that they weren't alone. Robert had heard the soft talking from the hall and ended up watching the scene from the doorway.

"Bud, you haven't touched your carrots" Oliver said as he noticed that the grilled cheese and apple slices were all gone.

"I don't like carrots "Tommy pouts.

"Well you need to eat your vegetables."

"Uh-uh" he says shaking his head no.

Looking at the stubborn little boy, he sighs "Ok, I'll make a deal with you" he says leaning his elbows onto the counter, "I will trade my tomatoes for your carrots" he says in a low voice.

At the proposition, the little boy thinks hard, putting his hand to his chin and puckering his lips into his thinking face. He thinks about it hard and then finally gives in, "Ok" he says happily.

"Ok" Oliver says laughing as he slides the tomatoes over to the him. As soon as the tomatoes reach his little hands, he grabs a piece and eats it.

Shaking his head in pure amusement, he almost doesn't hear the voice behind him.

"He is quite the stubborn one, isn't he?" Robert says making his appearance.

When the voice reaches Oliver's ears, he turns his attention from his son to his father. Smiling wistfully, he finally processes what his father had just said, "Oh yeah, he gets it from his mother, she can be quite stubborn and head strong. It's actually one of the many things that I love about her."

As Robert study's his son, he senses how at peace he is, how happy he is. "She's quite something, isn't she?"

"Who Felicity, yeah she's amazing."

"You really like her, don't you?"

"No…I love her, more than I have ever loved anyone" he says with love clear in his eye.

Before Robert can say anything Tommy screeches "daddy" and both of their attentions are turned back to the little boy, who's shirt is soaked in tomato juice.

"And that's my cue, alright little man, let's go take a bath" he says picking up Tommy and walking them out of the kitchen, to the bathroom.

Before they fully disappear upstairs, the last thing Robert hears is "Rubber Duckie?"

"What would bath time be without your rubber duckie?"

Walking through the door at exactly… 7:45 she notes, looking at her watch. The first thing that she notices when she closes the door is the warmth of her home and the beautiful scent of vanilla. With all of the beauty wafting over her, a gentle smile caresses her lips.

Slipping her heels off her swollen feet and leaving them in her wake, she slowly makes her way to the stairs.

When she reaches the post of the staircase, she hears soft laughter coming from the bedrooms above. Pulling herself up the many steps, she eventually makes it to common ground and then hears another fit of giggles.

Following the intoxicating sound of her little boys' happiness, she finds herself leaning against the door seal, looking into the life she created. The love of her life is hugging and kissing her son, while he squeals in pure joy.

As time goes by, Oliver's eyes meet hers and his lips instantly form a smile that leaves her heart beating a mile a minute. When the little boy notices that he lost his father's attention, he seeks the cause, and his eyes immediately meet his mothers. As soon as they make the connection, Tommy struggles out of his father's hold and runs over to hug his mother's legs.

"Hi, Buddy, shouldn't you be in bed?"

He shakes his head reluctantly while keeping it buried into her legs. "Wait for you" he mumbles, while meeting her eyes.

"Waiting for me?" she asks never breaking contact and he responds with a head nod.

"Kiss. Tommy needs momma's kiss."

"Is that so? Well, then let's fix that." She says guiding him to his toddler bed that Oliver is currently sitting on.

"See, I told you she would be here, didn't I?" Oliver asks rising from the bed while looking at his son.

And Tommy can't help but shyly smile at his father with the cutest expression.

"Come here" Oliver said picking the boy up and throwing him in the air before catching him. "Bedtime" he says laying him gently onto the bed.  
"Ok" Tommy says squirming into a comfortable position.

"Ok" Felicity says sitting on the side of the bed while Oliver stands near her and his son.

Before the two parents can say anything, Tommy looks up at them and says "I love you mommy and daddy."

The confession melts their hearts and they both respond "we love you too". And then he surprises them yet again by sitting up and whispers to Felicity's stomach "oh and I love you too baby". He then puts his small hands on each side and leans into kiss her rounded stomach.

With the action, words can't describe the love they feel for the child before them. So, they do the only thing they can think of and lean down and each run their fingers through his soft auburn hair. And lay a kiss of love on his beautiful head.

"Sweet Dreams my love" Felicity says laying his head on the pillow.

"Goodnight Champ" Oliver says bringing the cover over the little boys' chest, and with one final kiss, his eyes close and he drifts to a dream filled world.

After putting Tommy to bed, Felicity sets her course for her closet.

"So, enlighten me with what a Queen dinner looks like" she says while pulling and gazing at different dresses throughout her closet.

"Felicity, it's not a big deal, just wear whatever you want."

And with that statement, her search comes to a halt.

"Not a big deal?" she asks turning her gaze to the man near the door of their bedroom. "I'm sorry, have you met your mother? We're talking about the woman that would dress up to eat pizza. Oh, and let's not forget the tiny fact that, she sort of hates me."

"She doesn't hate you, Felicity. She doesn't even know you. Before the Gambit remember."

"Oh, but that's where your wrong Oliver, before the Gambit, after the Gambit, it doesn't matter because no matter what, I will never be Laurel."

And with that he stops and looks at her with pure confusion.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means that through her eyes, and I'm sure through everybody's eyes down there, I am nothing but the woman that got in the way of your relationship with her."

"But that's not what happened." He slightly protests.

"Yeah, I know that, but they don't. And until they find out the real truth I am nothing more than a Gold Digger, a destroyer of relationships, a…"  
"Ok, stop, your putting this way out of context, and your blowing this up way more than it is."

"Am I?" she asks cocking her head to the side and studying him.

"Yes" he says grabbing her arms. "Look it is all going to be fine, once they meet the real Felicity Queen, they will instantly fall in love with you."

"Yeah, everyone except Laurel" she says turning her head to the other side and speaking in a hushed whisper.

"Look my point is, they can't judge you if they don't know you."

"Yes, they can" she says exasperated. "I mean hell that's what rich people do for a hobby."

"Felicity, it will be fine. I promise, I will be right by your side the entire time." And after looking into her eyes with pure trust and guarantee, he slightly moves away from her and grabs a tight fitted red dress. "Here, wear this one" he says while handing it to her, and plants a kiss to her forehead. "Everything will be alright."

And with one last squeeze to her hand, he disappears through the door and she is left alone to her thoughts.

'It is going to be a long night' is the only thing they kept floating through her mind.

Finishing up on the final touches to dinner, Oliver sets the table, and everyone gradually makes their way down.

"What smells so delicious?" Tommy asks walking into the dining room.

"Wow, this place looks impeccable" Moira said, while sitting down.

As those words escaped into the air, Felicity came in wearing her red dress and her hair down and Oliver can't keep his eyes off her, so instead he takes the few steps to her. When he reaches, her he pulls her in and brings his lips to her golden hair and whispers, "You look beautiful."

"Thank you" she mumbles while blushing, and before she knows it he is guiding her to a seat.

When everyone is seated, they begin eating the enticing meal before them.

"This absolutely divine" Moira comments, ""You must have amazing staff here."

"Well, we don't have staff, actually I made it" Oliver says cutting into his chicken.

At that revelation, everyone but Felicity stop and gape at the head of the table.

"You made this?"

"Since when did you learn how to cook like this, Ollie?" Laurel asks.

"Well, it's kind of a long story."

"Yeah, one that involves slow cookers" Felicity mumbles. When everyone looks at her, she looks up from her food. "Did I say that out loud?" She asks gazing at Oliver and all he gives her is a knowing smile. And with that she presses her lips together and returns her eyes to her food.

Before the awkward silence could continue, Robert spoke.

"So, how did the two of you meet?"

Before Oliver can answer, Tommy speaks up in his typical sarcastic tone.

"I bet they me at the club, got her knocked up, and Boom here we are" Tommy teased in a light tone. When the words were nothing but air, Felicity went stock still and Oliver gave him a death glare, and Tommy's smile evaporated. "What? I was just kidding."

Ignoring his friend's apology, Oliver huffed trying to gain his composure back and spoke. "Actually, I met Felicity through QC, she worked in the IT Department at the time."

Everyone erupts into laughter, and the two share a look of confusion.

"What's so funny?" Oliver asks looking at his family.

"Well, it's just that… do you even where the IT Department is? I mean you never went to QC unless you absolutely had to, and even then, the only place you knew was your father's office" Tommy says suppressing his laughter.

Oliver's jaw instantly locks, and Felicity immediately notices. When she sees his demeanor change, she quickly takes his hand under the table and squeezes it, giving him the strength he needs to calm down.

"Actually, Oliver needed his laptop fixed and somehow, he heard that I was the best and… the rest is history" she said while her eyes never left his and they share a secret smile meant only for them, as they remembered that monumental day.

After a minute, they finally break eye contact and are quickly met with sour faces on Moira and Laurel's faces.

Changing the topic, Moira asks, "So Felicity, what do you do?" she asks snarkly.

"She probably stays home and lives off of all Oliver's money, like the gold digger she is" Laurel says taunting her, with a bitchy smile.

"Laurel" Tommy says in a warning tone knowing she took it way to far.

At the allegation, Felicity locked her jaw and let out a shaky breath.

"Felicity is NOT a Gold Digger" Oliver seethes in his Arrow voice.

"As a matter of fact, I own my own company, so if anything, Oliver's living my money" she says casting her cold stare at Laurel. And then she quickly adds moving her soft eyes to Oliver, "not that there's anything wrong about that" and he just smiles at her.

"Wait, you own your own company?" Robert asks. "What do you specialize in?"

"We're a tech company."

"Yes, she owns Queen Incorporated." Oliver beamed with pride.

"Wait, as in Queen Consolidated?" Moira asks.

"Well, technically yes… It's a long story" she said trying to give the bare minimum, so she didn't tell the owners the real story of why she's in charge.

"Felicity has stood by my side through everything and practically helped me run the company. So, when I received the opportunity to be the Mayor, I knew it was in good hands."

As the words pour out of his beautiful mouth, Felicity feels absolutely loved in that moment, but it was short-lived.

"So, let me get this straight, Oliver, you decided that you didn't want to be the CEO anymore, so you gave it to your wife?" Moira asked, clearly not happy with what she's hearing.

"Moira" Robert says in a warning tone.

"I wouldn't say that he gave it to me, I mean as I said before, it's a long and complicated story that I'm not going to get into, and I'm going to stop talking now." She said this while once again pressing her lips together.

And then Oliver speaks up defensively. "Even if I had given it to her, I wouldn't have it any other way. She is the best at what she does and I trust her with my life, and that includes the company."

"Oliver, your father did not build this company up to let it be passed on to anyone but you" she said growing frustrated with a stone-cold voice.

"Moira" Robert says again with his voice rising.

"Mother" Oliver says growing frustrated by his mother's jabs at Felicity.

"You mean to a woman" Felicity mumbles.

And with that accusation, Moira directs her cold hard stare at her.

"Excuse me?"

"Felicity, she didn't mean it like that" Oliver whispered as he takes her hand under the table and tries to calm her down before she can get too stressed out. But his words fell to silent ears.

"No, she did and it's ok." She says as he matches her glare. "It's not like I signed my first $5 Billion deal or anything. Or I haven't just saved thousands of people's lives by allowing them the opportunity to walk again. No, that's not possible because I'm a woman. Right?"

"Felicity, my wife does not mean that" Robert says trying to ease the tension around the table.

"No, she does"

And with those final words, she stands up and leans down to kiss Oliver.

"Thank you for dinner, it was delicious."

"Felicity" he says almost desperately, but before he can say anything else, she silences him with a reassuring smile.

"I'm tired, it's been a long day" she whispers and with one final kiss to his temple, she directs her tired body to her bed.

When she leaves the room, Oliver let's out a deep sigh and finally allows his eyes to meet the people around the table but letting his gaze stay on Laurel and his Mother.

"Really? What is so wrong with her, you have to make her feel like she does not even come close to your expectations?"

"Oliver" Moira says trying to defend herself, but he doesn't let her speak.

"No mother, Felicity is the best thing that has ever happened to me and whether you like it or not, she is the love of my life and she isn't going anywhere. I just thought that you would be happy that I finally found the one thing that makes happy, but I guess I was wrong."

"Oliver" Robert says trying to get his sons attention.

"Oliver" Tommy says trying to get his friends attention, but both fail.

And without another word, he just tightens his jaw and shakes his head in utter disgust and disappointment. Standing up, he grabs his now empty plate and takes it to the kitchen and never looks back at the people he once called family.

After leaving the kitchen, he roams the halls of the home until he finds himself leaning against the porch doors. He steadies his walk as he approaches her and takes a minute just to watch her. She was so beautiful with her hair flowing in the gentle breeze of the nightly sky and her hands grazing her belly as she stared out into nothing.

"Hey" he said softly breaking her trance.

"Hi" she says giving him a small smile. "That was…"

"Yeah" he says coming to kneel in front of her.

"Not to say I told you so, but… I told you so."

"I'm sorry, I guess I had just thought that they would see what I see, the beautiful life I've created."

"I know" she says running her fingers through his hair, and then lets her palm rest on his cheek, while he closes his eyes basking in her touch. "You have come so far, and I am SO proud of you. They don't know what you've been through, they don't understand."

"I know, I just thought that they would be happy that I'm not the same old Ollie, that I've grown."

"They do see that" she says laying a kiss on his forehead.

"And what my mom said about the company, that was extremely out of line."

"Hey, it's ok. She's not the first and certainly won't be the last one to criticize me for being a woman in the business world."

Watching her in absolute amazement, he utters the only words he can form.

"I Love You."

And she only gives him the smile that is specifically for him. Letting his eyes drift close, he delicately kisses her stomach.

"Thank you"

"For what?"

"For everything. For giving me this life; our amazing children; but most importantly for loving me."

"Always"

And with that he stands up and kisses her on the lips before joining her on the sofa and pulling her close to him.

What the two of them didn't know was that they were not alone. All four guests had witnessed the scene while hiding behind the doors, and by the end every pair of eyes met each other.


	3. Chapter 3

Opening her blue eyes, the first thing she sees is the soft breeze softly moving the white chiffon curtain back and forth in front of the French doors that are open.

Then her gaze looks up and then she meets Oliver's eyes.

"Hi" she whispers.

"Hi"

"Please tell me everything that happened last night was a dream" she says pouting her lips as her chin rests on his chest.

"Unfortunately, it wasn't"

Groaning she rolls over onto her back, "Well it was worth a shot."

Before Oliver can say anything, his phone goes off, looking at it he says, "Looks like Barry and Team Flash just arrived."

"Ok" she says struggling to sit up, for which Oliver has to help her. When her feet touch the ground all she can say is "Thank you. One of the downsides of being bigger than a house is that I can't see my feet."

"You look as beautiful as the day I met you."

Blushing she rolls her eyes and declares it, "you're such a sap"

"I'm your sap, and with that he presses a gentle kiss to her lips and then gets up to get ready for the day.

Walking downstairs together, they are immediately welcomed to Robert at the bottom of the staircase.

"Good Morning, Dad."

"Hello"

Before he can say anything more, they all hear a set of tiny footsteps running down the stairs.

"Mommy! Daddy!"

"Hey Buddy" Oliver says turning around to catch his energetic son.

"Breakfast" Tommy yells.

"Ok, let's go get some breakfast" Oliver says walking down the last few steps with Felicity following closely behind.

"Felicity, can I speak with you for a second?" Robert asked.

Both Oliver and Felicity eyes meet and after a few seconds, Oliver gives her a look of reassurance and small smile, and then walks to the kitchen.

"What's up? If this is about last night and me running the company, I just want to say that I understand if you are mad…"

"Felicity" he says laying his arm on her shoulder just like Oliver does when he tries to get her to focus.

"I just wanted to apologize for my wife's behavior last night, especially about the company."

"Oh, it's fine, I mean…" she stops trying to find the right words.

"No, it's not fine, it was very uncalled for, and honestly from everything you told me last night, I honestly couldn't be prouder that you are in charge."

As he says these words, Felicity beams with pride knowing that the Original owner of the Queen business is proud of her.

"You are?"

"Yes, very proud" he says giving her a kind smile.

"Thank you, that means a lot hearing that come from you."

"You are welcome."

"Breakfast?" she asks with a smile and he responds with a single nod.

When they reach the kitchen, they hear Oliver talking to the rest of their guests.

"I have a meeting this morning, so there is cereal, eggs, waffles, fruit and whatever else you can find in here" he says while packing some fruit away in a to go container.

"So, Oliver when are we going to get the chance to see the newly improved Starling City?" Tommy asked

"Star City" he says looking up at his friend.

"What?"

"It's not called Starling anymore, now it's Star City."

"Well that's weird."

"Yeah, but I don't think it's safe for you guys to go out there."

"Why not?"

"Well because…" he says breaking off his sentence and looking to Felicity for guidance.

"Because" she says speaking up. "It could change the timeline."

"How could it change the timeline?" Laurel asked casting her glare at Felicity.

"Because, if you ran into your future self it could change everything and make the entire timeline implode into itself" she says with a confident voice, and her eye contact never leaves Laurel's, and that quickly shuts her up.

When she ends the glaring contest, her gaze meets Oliver's confused look.

"Anyways, we should probably get going, we wouldn't want to be late for our meeting, right?"

"Right" Oliver says picking Tommy, and the fruit he packed away, up from the counter and makes his way toward the door by Felicity.

Casting one last glance to the people in the kitchen he says, "Stay here" and everyone nods not wanting to challenge him. And with that the little family walk out of the kitchen.

"The time line can't actually implode in itself, can it?" he asks as they walk outside.

"Pfft, no. I just needed an excuse that would scare them enough to stay inside. Besides it wouldn't matter, their all dead anyways" she says nonchalantly. And then she abruptly stops, "I am so sorry, I didn't mean it like that, I just meant…"  
"I know what you meant" he says grabbing her hand and giving her a small knowing smile. "Come on."

And they start walking again, and then she speaks again.

"Oh, and besides, if the timeline really did do that every time someone met their other selves, it would have imploded a long time ago."

"Good point." He says closing the door, as they get in the car and make their way to the lair.

When the elevators open, they are welcomed to bright faces.

"Ollie" Barry greeted as he came over to greet him.

"Uncle Barry" Tommy says excitedly as Oliver sets him down on the ground so that he can run to Barry.

"Hey little man, how are you?" Barry asks as he kneels down to give the little boy a big hug.

"Good" he says throwing his hands in the air.

"Well that's good."

"Hey Buddy, why don't you go sit down at the table and eat your fruit." Oliver said guiding him to the table, and setting out his mini breakfast.

While Oliver does this, Barry stands up and helps Felicity sit down in her chair.

"So, what's so urgent?"

"Well I feel like it would be better if I showed you" she said as she pressed a button on her keyboard and the video popped up.

When the video appeared, everyone but Oliver crowded around the computer monitor.

"What is that?" Rene asked.

"It looks like a portal" Cisco said.

"Yeah, a portal with no owner" Felicity pitched in.

"Is that Laurel" Cisco asked again as he looked closer at the video.

Felicity sighed and said, "Yeah, but don't be fooled, it's not our Laurel."

"Black Siren" Barry asked going on high alert.

"I wish, but no, Laurel from before."

"Ollie who are all these people?" Barry asked.

Walking over to the rest of the group, he finally speaks, "those are my parents, and my best friend Tommy."

When nobody spoke for a minute, Felicity piped in, "Ooh, but that's not even the best part, Oliver do you want to tell them, or shall I?"

Before he can say anything, she says "They are from before the Gambit."

Barry, Cisco, and Caitlyn instantly understand, but the rest of Team Arrow look at Oliver and Felicity with confusion.

"What is the Gambit?" Dinah asked.

"Oh right, you don't know. Umm it's the boat that stranded Oliver for five years."

"And this is a big deal because?" Rene asked.

"Right you don't know all of Oliver's past. You see Oliver wasn't always who he is now. Picture him as a Playboy Billionaire who slept with half of Starling City" Felicity says.

This explanation only gets her a glare from Oliver.

"What? It's true."

"Ok, look I am not by any means proud of my past."

"But I think the bigger question here, is how they got here" Barry said changing the subject.

"Yes, that is the million-dollar question" Felicity said spinning her chair back to her monitors.

"Well the thing that's not adding up, is how the portal opened up in the first place." Cisco said.

"Yeah, that's really odd" Caitlyn said.

"Wait a second, did you check the surrounding areas?" Barry asked trying to think of every possible avenue.

"Well, I checked every camera around the docks."

"What about near the main office?" Oliver asked.

Gasping, Felicity then goes straight to work hacking into the cameras from the main office. When she pulls up the footage, there is a man walking away from the scene.

"Now that can't be a coincidence" Cisco said.

"No, it can't be" Dig confirms.

"Hold on, let me pull up facial recognition."

And 30 seconds later their mystery man comes into view.

"Looks like his name is Albert Watts and he worked for Queen Consolidated once upon a time. He was one of the lead scientists of the Applied Sciences Department and get this, apparently, he was fired due to the cause of his infatuation with time travel. Apparently, he went crazy and he disappeared around the same time the Particle Accelerator went off. Coincidence, I think not." And at those words Felicity, Cisco, and Curtis giggle.

"I see what you did there" Cisco said pointing at her.

"Focus" Oliver said.

"Wait a second, I know that guy, he was the guy who had no powers." Barry said.

"What do you mean he had no powers?" Oliver asked.

"Yeah, there was a break in at Stagg Enterprises last week, but by the time I got there, he was gone."

"What do you mean he was gone?" Dinah asked.

"I mean he just disappeared, and when we went back to look at the security footage, one minute he's there and the next he just… poof."

"Yeah, we've been trying to find this guy, but this is the first time he's showed up since that day" Cisco said.

"Why was he so important that you had to keep tabs on him?" Dig asked confused.

"Because he stole something" Caitlyn chimed in.

"What did he steal?" Oliver asked.

"It was a new suppress agent Stagg Enterprises has been working on." Caitlyn answered.

"What does it do?"

"Well potentially it is supposed to suppress an agent in a chemical mix that could be dangerous and deadly or it can also reverse effects of another chemical."

"Now why the hell would he want that? What does that have to do with time travel?" Rene asked confused.

"It doesn't" Felicity said studying Caitlyn closely.

"Which means that this is about something completely different" Cisco said thinking about what this man could possibly be after.

As the day goes on, Felicity, Cisco, and Cutis all search for their villain. They come up short up until the beginning of night.

"Oh, I found him" Felicity said.

"Where?" Oliver asks already going near his suit.

"On the top of a building at the intersection of 5th and Polk."

And with that, both heroes are gone. When they arrive on the rooftop, they are met to the man that started all of this.

"What are doing here? Why did you bring my family back?" Oliver growled.

"Yeah, and why did you steal the Chemical Suppresser?" Barry asked.

And the only words the man before them spoke were vague.

"Oh, you have no idea what is coming. The time for retaliation has come."

And with that he is gone. Both men look at each other in pure confusion.

"That's all he said, _the time for Retaliation has come_." Felicity said in her best creepy person impersonation voice.

"Yeah" Oliver says.

"What the hell does that even me?" Rene asked.

"Well that could mean a lot of things, since Oliver has never been on everyone's good side." Felicity said.

"Yeah, well the real question is what the hell did you ever do to him" Cisco said, standing by Caitlyn who is holding a now sleeping Tommy.

"Well this could be about the company and how my father fired him."

"But would he really go through all this trouble just to get revenge for your father firing him?" Barry asked.

"I don't know" Oliver said rubbing his hands through his face. "But there's no point in thinking about it tonight. Let's just all go home and sleep it off. It's been a long day, and we can regroup tomorrow."

Looking around the room he sees tired faces nod to his proposition and slowly make it to the exit.

Before Barry leaves though he stops by Oliver.

"Hey, we're going to figure this out."

"I know."

After leaving the bunker, they pull into the dark driveway and get out of the car and Oliver grabs a sleeping Tommy and leads all of them into the house.

After they walk through the door, they are encircled into darkness and Oliver silently grabs Felicity's hand so that he can guide her tired body through the dark halls.

When they get up the stairs, they make their way to Tommy's room.

Opening the door, they go over to the bed and Oliver pulls back the covers, while Felicity takes off Tommy's shoes and coat.

When the covers are pulled back, Oliver takes a seat on the bed and starts taking off the little boy's clothes while Felicity gets out a pair of pajamas and walks back over to her two boys.

Quietly they change Tommy into his PJ's and the act causes the little boy to softly sigh and turn into his father's chest and holds onto him tightly. Turning around, Oliver slowly lowers his son to the bed and Felicity carefully unlatches his tiny hands from Oliver's neck and once the boy is settled, they cover him with the sheet and comforter and kiss him goodnight.

Before they close the door, they turn on the lights that mimic stars on his ceiling. They found that the stars were what he really loves and keeps him calm. And with one last look, they shut the door and head to their room.

When their heads touch the pillow, they have enough time to say their goodnights before they are pulled into soundless sleep.

As the night goes on the house is quiet, until a creak is heard from downstairs. At the noise, Oliver's eyes are immediately opened and is instantly aware of his surroundings.

Looking over to Felicity, he sees that she is sound asleep and tugs to her pillow more closely. Slowly getting up, Oliver grabs the first weapon he can touch, which happens to be his bow and arrow, and slowly and quietly descends down the stairs.

When he reaches the bottom of the steps he hears shuffling in the kitchen and he goes straight into Green Arrow mode.

As he looks through the opening of the kitchen, he sees the intruder's back and he aims to shoot. But before he can let go of the arrow that is aimed at the invaders shoulder, the man turns around.

"Don't Shoot!"


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

 _Previously on When Ghost Come Back to Haunt: 'before he can let go of the arrow that is aimed at the invaders shoulder, the man turns around.'_

" _Don't Shoot!"_

"Roy?" Oliver says lowering his bow.

"Hey, I'm sorry to intrude, I know I should have called but…"

"What are you doing here?"

"What is going on?" Felicity asks turning on the light. "Roy?"

"Hey"

"What…"

"It's a long story, but I need your help."

"What's going on?"

"I think it would be best if I showed you" he says walking over to the long table in the dining room. Without warning he lifts it up like it weighs nothing.

Looking flabbergasted, all Felicity can mutter is "How?"

"I think I somehow have Mirakuru in my system again."

"Ok, Oliver, why don't you make some tea and then Roy, you can tell us everything from the beginning."

Once they were all settled in the living room with their tea, Roy begins to tell the story.

"Ok, so a couple days ago I was working late at the auto shop and when I closed up, I noticed this weird car that had been parked outside the entire day. But I didn't think much about it. So, I went home I took a shower and then I got a beer and sat down and watched T.V. Well about midnight, I guess I had been drifting off to sleep, and all of a sudden I feel a needle pierce my skin, and I try to fight the intruder but the injection was to strong so all I saw was the man."

"And then what happened?' Felicity asked intrigued.

"Well then, I woke up several hours later and that same guy was still there, sitting right in front of me."

"Did he say anything?" Oliver asks for the first time.

"Yeah, after I yelled at him and asked him what he did to me, he said that he injected me with Mirakuru and I said that was impossible, because after the cure, nobody was supposed to be immune to it again."

"That's impossible, I destroyed every last bit of that."

"Yeah, well apparently he remade the serum and he said that this new and improved serum undoes all of the effects of the cure. Which I don't know how that's possible but, yeah."

When he finishes both people look at their friend, trying to process everything he had just told them.

"Wow, but why would he use you as test subject?"

"I don't know. But what I do know is that it's not good. He didn't tell me his plan. After I woke up the last time he was gone, and so I came here. I'm sorry, I didn't know where else to go."

"No, no it's fine. I'm glad you came" Oliver said reassuring him, by putting his hand on his friend's shoulder.

"Although a phone call might have been nice." Felicity said joking.

"I know, I am so sorry, my battery died, and I didn't want wake Tommy up."

"So, you thought it would be best to sneak in?" she asked.

"No, I don't know, I wasn't thinking."

"It's fine. Um I would make a bed for you but our rooms are full."

"All seven of them?"

"Yeah, it's a long story, that I promise to update you on tomorrow."

"Cool, well then I will take the couch, if you don't mind."

"No problem" Oliver says getting out bedding.

"Again, I'm sorry for waking you both up."

"It's ok, goodnight Roy" Felicity said standing up and giving him hug, and then making her way back upstairs.

The next morning, Oliver wakes up to make breakfast and Roy soon joins him in the kitchen.

"Morning" Oliver says not looking up from his glaze he's making.

"Morning. You know I forget that you can cook."

Grinning Oliver keeps his eyes down.

"So, you know I remember Thea telling me that Felicity was pregnant, but I didn't think she was that far along."

"Yeah, she's seven and half months along."

"Do you know what it is?"

Looking up for the first time since his friend arrived in the room, Oliver gives him a smile and a small nod.

"Yeah, a baby girl."

"Congrats man."  
"Thanks, I'm really excited, we all are."

Before they can say anything else, Tommy comes running into the kitchen.

"Daddy, good morning."  
"Hey Buddy"

But before Tommy can reach his father, he stops in his tracks when he sees the man before him.

"Uncle Roy!"

"Hey Tommy" Roy says bending down to get level with the little guy. "How are you?"  
"Good" he says grinning from ear to ear and running into the waiting arms. "I missed you."

"I missed you too buddy."

"What are you doing here?" Tommy asks leaning out of the embrace and looking his uncle in the eyes.

"Well, I thought it was time for a visit. So, I could come see your daddy and your mommy and you." He says tickling the little boy on the last word.

With that laughter fills the air and attracts some guests.

"Hey, what's going on in here?"

At the unfamiliar voice, Roy stands up and looks at the man in front of him. Before he can ask who, he is, the man beats him to the punch.

"Who are you?"

"This is my Uncle Roy."

"Uncle Roy? Ollie, you didn't tell me you had friends" Tommy jokes. "Hi, Tommy Merlin" he says giving his hand to shake.

"Roy Harper" he says returning the handshake, trying to figure out why that name sounds familiar.

Before he contemplates it anymore, two familiar faces walk into the room and one unfamiliar appears behind them, making him gasp in surprise.

"Good morning Oliver" Moira says giving her son a smile, and then her eyes land on the unexpected guest.

In the distance, the front door is heard opening and closing, and footsteps make their way to the kitchen.

"Hello"

When the voice meets Oliver's ears, his eyes go wide, and mentally prepares himself for the unwanted confrontation.

As the footsteps get closer, the voice comes again.

"Tommy are you ready for a day filled with fun in the … sun" the last word comes out in nothing but a mere whisper, as the voice finally shows its face.

Thea stops in her tracks as she is faced with her past, present, and her future.

With wide eyes, her next words come out strangled with disbelief.

"Mom…Dad…Tommy…Roy" she whispers flabbergasted.  
"Thea, my darling girl" Moira says lighting up the moment she sees her daughter.

"You cut your hair, Speedy" Tommy said with a smile.

"Thea, we've been wondering where you've been. You are absolutely beautiful." Robert says coming to stand in front of her.

Before she knows what, she's doing she wraps her arms around both her parents. She breaks the hug after a couple minutes, when she hears someone come in behind her.

"Mom, dad, Tommy…how?"

And as the last word escapes her mouth, her eyes meet Oliver's in confusion.

Not knowing what to say he just gives her a look that says 'I'll tell you later'.

"Tommy, my love, don't forget your backpack" Felicity says walking in carrying his Flash backpack.

When Tommy sees his mother, he squirms out of Roy's arms.

Looking up from the back pack, Felicity sees Thea, embracing her parents.  
"Oh, Thea, I didn't hear you come in."

Letting go of her parents she turns to look at Felicity, but then her eyes meet Roy's.

"Roy" she says in a loving whisper.

"Hi Th…"

Before he can finish his sentence, she jumps in his arms and embraces him.

As the former lovers continue to welcome each other home, Moira and Robert exchange confused looks.  
Before they can say anything, Oliver clears his throat and the two love birds break from their kiss.

"Don't you think it's time to go to the zoo, Thea?"

"Beach, Beach, Beach" Tommy chants as he puts his arms through the backpack loops and jumps simultaneously.

Looking at her nephew, she finally lets Roy go. Looking at her parents and half-brother one more time, she gives them a smile and one more hug to each one of them.

Walking out of the kitchen, Oliver, Felicity, Tommy, and Roy follow her out of the house.  
"Ollie, you want to tell me what the hell is going on?"

"I promise I will explain everything later, but right now I really need you to watch Tommy, please."

Sighing she gives in and then turns to Roy.

"Ok fine, but you better be here when I get back."

"I promise" he says laying one final kiss to her lips.

Breaking the kiss, she turns her attention to the excited little boy who is holding his mother's hand.

"Ok, Tommy let's go play in the water, what do you say?"

"Yay" he says grabbing her hand and pulling her to her car, and with that they get in the car and leave.

When the doors to the elevator open, the three of them are instantly met to divided chaos. In one corner, Renee, Dinah, and Curtis are sparring with Diggle. And in the other corner, Team Flash are looking over all of the evidence they had found on Watts."

Walking in they immediately draw everyone's attention, especially their guest. Dropping everything they are doing they all meet in the middle. The first person to break the silence is John.

"Roy Harper" he says with a wide grin, while bringing him into a hug. "It is good to see you again."

"Yeah, you too Dig."

"The Great Arsenal returns" Cisco says in a dramatic voice.

"Nice to see you again Cisco. And you as well Barry and Caitlyn."

"Roy" Barry says nodding his head to him.

While everyone is welcoming their friend back, Felicity takes a seat in her seat and watches the encounters, while the rest of Team Arrow watch the young man in confusion.

"Sorry to disrupt this little reunion but, did I miss something?" Curtis asks.

"Yeah Hos, who the hell is this guy?"

"This is Roy Harper, a good friend and my first protégé."

"Wait a second, why does that name sound familiar? Oh my god, you were that one guy that came out as the Arrow and died. Which clearly didn't happen because your standing right here."

"Yeah, Roy faked his death so that I wouldn't go to prison, which I am eternally grateful for.'  
"You know I would do anything for you Oliver."

"I do."

"Not to break up this really cute moment, but is there a reason why you're out of hiding?" Cisco asked.

"Why don't you tell them Roy?" Felicity urged.

A couple nights ago a crazy doctor showed up at my house and injected me with a new version of Mirakuru."

"Mira, what?" Renee asks.

"New version, I thought the cure made you immune to the drug" Barry says.

"Yeah, that's what I thought, until I woke up."

"Oh, and to answer your question Renee, Mirakuru, is a drug that makes people superhuman, at least in their skill wise." Felicity answers.

"Wait like the Siege?"

"Exactly like the Siege" Oliver confirmed grimly.

Changing the subject, Felicity sits down and directs her attention back to Roy.

"Roy tell me more about this doctor."

"I didn't get much of him, just that he had white hair, crazy glasses, and this crazy look in his eye."

"Well I hate to break it to you Roy, but those descriptions can match a quarter of the country."

Thinking hard, something finally comes to him.

"Wait there was something on his jacket, Harvard or something."

With that information, Felicity goes to work, and minutes later she pulls up a picture.

"Is this him?"

"Yeah, yeah, that's him."

"Well it looks like his name is Professor Andrew Walsh, he was one of the main scientists that ran the prestige science program at Harvard."

"Oh my god" Caitlyn said gasping.

"What?" Oliver asks.

"That was my professor."

"Wait you knew him?" Felicity asked.

"Yes, he was my main professor for the majority of my graduate studies."

"What else do you know about him?"

"Well he was the best medical professor at Harvard. He knew remotely everything when it came to the human body. His goal was to cure as many diseases as he possibly could and he was a determined man."

"Well he doesn't sound like a bad man, in fact he sounds kind of like the opposite" Dinah points out.

"Were there any quirks about him, anything odd?" Felicity asked trying to make sense of the situation.

"No, he was a great guy, meant well, and a fantastic professor. But now that you bring it up, there was this other professor that always stopped by, in fact I'm pretty sure they were good friends. I think his name was … Professor Ivo."

"Did you just say Ivo?" Oliver asks as his face suddenly goes dark.

"Um, yeah I'm pretty sure that' what his name was."

Not waiting for permission, Felicity brings up the name and the man comes up om her monitor.

"Is that him?"

"Yeah that's him."

"Did you know him, Oliver?" Diggle asks crossing his arms while looking at his partner.

With a huff he says, "Yeah you could say that. He was in Lian Yu, he was the one that was hell bent on finding the Mirakuru in the first place."

"Which would explain how Walsh knew about it." Felicity filled in.

"Well I think we just solved our mystery" Cisco said.

"What?" Barry asks.

"With the whole chemical suppressor that Watts stole. Clearly it was for the Mirakuru."

"Wait so you think that these two are working together?" Dinah said.

"Well clearly, I mean it can't be a coincidence that he steals a chemical suppressor and then two days later we find out that Mirakuru is back on the market and people once infected with it, are no longer immune to it."

"Cisco has a point" Ray pointed out.

Taking a deep breath, Oliver accepts the fact.

"Alright, let's see if we can make the connections and how they know each other."

"On it" Felicity says turning back to her monitors.  
While everyone turns back to each other, there is still one thing that bothers Barry.

"There's still one thing that's not adding up; if I've learned anything as a hero, it's that every villain has a motive. So, what's their motive."

"I don't know, but I have a feeling that we're about to find out." Sighs Oliver.

After the major revelations of the day Oliver, Felicity, and Roy meet Thea and Tommy at Big Belly Burger, and fill her in.

"Wow, that's a lot to take in."

"I know Speedy, and I am so sorry for not telling you right away, it's just I wanted to know what was going on before I said anything."

"I understand, it was just such a shock to see all of them this morning, it threw me off."

"I know and again I'm really sorry."

"It's fine Ollie, thank you for telling me the truth."

Nodding his head, she continues, as she turns her attention to Roy.

"As for you, you're staying with me tonight, and that wasn't a suggestion."

"Yes ma'am."

"Great, then Ollie keep me updated, and if you will excuse us, I think it's time we headed home" she says getting up from the booth. "Bye little man, thanks for going with me to the beach." She says giving him a kiss to the head.

"Bye Aunt Thea, Bye Uncle Roy." Tommy says waving his French fry in his hand.

Bidding their final goodbyes, Thea and Roy depart and Oliver and Felicity are not far behind.

When they arrive home that night they stay up for a little while and watch the news and are surprised when Tommy comes to join them. While they watch the news, Oliver is so distracted with updating Tommy on life through the last ten years, that he fails to hear his phone go off multiple times.

After about an hour they all decide to call it a night and within 30 minutes the house is silent. Unfortunately, it doesn't stay that way.

A couple hours into the silent night, an unwelcomed guest makes his appearance as he climbs through the little boy's room soundlessly. When his feet touch the coffee brown hard wood floors, he immediately scopes out the room.

In the corner of his eye, he notices the peacefully sleeping toddler. Smirking a devilish grin, an absurdly disturbing idea comes to his mind.

A couple minutes later, with the boy in his arms, he quickly makes his way down the stairs, keeping his movements as quiet as possible. But before he can make it down them successfully he lands on one that gives off a creak that audibly sounds ear-shattering in the still home.

While it may have been nothing to the normal ear, it was enough to wake up the most sensitive hearing, which is how Oliver found himself sitting up on his bed quickly and immediately alert of his surroundings. Looking around the area, he instantly knows somethings wrong.

Quickly getting up from the bed and making his way to the hall, he suddenly stops in his tracks when he witnesses a scene he is sure will haunt his dreams later on.

Slade is holding a now wide awake balling Tommy to his chest and a knife under the little boys' throat.

Tentatively coming down the stairs, Oliver holds up his hands in surrender.

"Slade, put him down, he is innocent." He says in a shaky voice.

"Well he is the son of Oliver Queen, so he can't be that innocent."

When he makes his way down the last couple steps, he takes full inventory of the area, trying to find the best way to take on Slade. As he scopes out every angle of the dark room his eyes suddenly come in contact with the sword that took Ras a Ghul's life, near him hanging in the hall. Taking slow and deliberate steps, he sets his sights on the weapon and slowly makes his way towards it.

"Slade this is between you and me, this has nothing to do with him."

"Oh, but that is where your wrong kid, it has everything to do with him. You see last time we saw each other I recall me making a promise to you. Something along the lines of me getting my revenge."

As Slade continues to talk, Oliver continues to advance on the sword.

While all of this is unfolding, Tommy's cries wake up Felicity and the rest of the people in the home.

When Felicity comes across the scene she gasps in horror as she watches the man that once held her under the same sword, hold her little boy in the same head lock.

"Oliver" she cries.

And with that distraction, Slade looks up and Oliver has enough time to grab the sword and make an advance on his enemy.

"Put him down Slade" Oliver seethes.

"As you wish" Slade says dropping the hysterical toddler to the ground.

As soon as Tommy hits the ground, Felicity hurry's down the stairs as quickly as her body lets her, and when she reaches her son, she picks him up sets her eyes on the foyer near the door.

When she has a good hold on Tommy, she gets up ready to run, but before she can make it to the hallway, Slade pounces at her, but Oliver blocks the shot. Running the rest of the way, she makes it to the foyer and sits down on the nearest sofa.

As she sits down she holds her little boy tightly to her and presses her emergency button nearby, to alert the team.

As she does this, in the other room, the fight escalates. Oliver uses all the training he's had with the sword against Slade and they go back and forth, destroying everything in their path. As the battle continues above them, Oliver's family watches in fear and interest.

Oliver blocks and charges every chance he gets until Slade gets the upper hand.

Swords clash against each other making the room erupt in sound, and Slade uses this to his advantage, by twisting both swords and having Oliver's fly out of his hand and into the other side of the room with a clatter to the ground.

When Oliver's weapon is gone, Slade kicks him in the inside of his knee, causing the man before him to fall to his knees and then he kicks him again in the chest, causing him to land on his back.

Having the upper hand Slade brings his sword to Oliver's throat.

"See kid, I told you I'd be back and that I would get my revenge, and my plan wasn't to kill you tonight, but I suppose plans change."

Lifting his sword, he is about to strike, but before he can huge commotion comes from the front door. The reinforcements arrive.

With Slade distracted, Felicity finds Oliver's bow near her and instantly grabs it.

"OLIVER" she says gliding in to him with the arrow.

And in one swift notion he grabs it and knocks both the bow and arrow and releases it into his target: Slade's shoulder.

Knocked back from the impact, Slade quickly gets up and crashes through the back door and is gone without a trace.

As Wild dog starts to go after him, Oliver immediately stops him.

"Let him go"

"But…"

"Not tonight, just let him go" Oliver says as Dig helps him up.

They exchange a look, as his friend tries to understand why he doesn't want them to follow him, but Oliver gives him a look that says 'don't even think about it'.

Before he can ask, they are quickly reminded that they are not alone.

"Oliver, oh my dear boy are you ok?" Moira asks running down the stairs.

And as the words escape her mouth the team gets the memo that they should leave, and without another thought they leave the exact way they came in.

Once their gone, Moira embraces her son and cries for him. As he responds to the hug, he quickly remembers Felicity, and Tommy and leaves his mother's embrace and runs to them.

"Hey are you ok?" Oliver asks kneeling in front of her, and putting his hand to her cheek.

"Yeah, just shaken… a lot, but we're ok." As she says this she is still rocking her son back and forth trying to stop his heart wrenching sobs.

Taking a deep breath, Oliver takes Tommy and Felicity into his arms and put his sons ear to his heart and quietly calms him down.

After what feels like hours but is simply mere minutes, Tommy finally calms down and drifts off to sleep.

Embracing Felicity, they finally look around and see nothing but the destruction caused by the man that once again has come to destroy their lives.

And Oliver can't even begin to fathom the anger he feels towards this man, but he does know one thing; Slade is out and things just got a whole lot more complicated.


	5. Chapter 5

I am so sorry guys, these last couple months have been stressful and busy but here the next chapter, (FINALLY). Hope you guys enjoy.

Oliver didn't sleep the rest of the night, lost in his mind. He tries to figure out how Slade got out in the first place, where he is now; his mind wouldn't shut down.

It took him half an hour to calm Tommy down and get everyone back in bed, but he feels that no one got sleep either.

By the time the time the sun appears over the mountains, he already has people cleaning up the disaster and erasing the visions of the night before.

"Hey" Felicity whispers, wrapping her arms around his waist and lays her head on the space between his shoulder blades. While she eases his mind with her comfort, he continues to look out on the veranda.

"Hi" he says laying his head on hers and kisses her hair. "Did you get any sleep?"

"Not really, and judging by the way you're standing, neither have you."

"Slade is free, there is no time for sleep."

"Oliver"

He turns in her embrace.

"I should have known."

"You couldn't have known that Slade escaped and the he would come here."

"But if I had just had my guard up, Tommy wouldn't be hurt and scarred for life."

Knowing that she can't change his mind she keeps her lips sealed.

"Look I know you well enough to know that I can't dig you out of your self-loathing, so let's just skip all that and have breakfast, what do you say?"

Sighing he gives in, "Alright"

Taking his hand, she laces his fingers with hers and guides him off the deck and towards the hallway. When they reach the hall, they stop right in front of Tommy's room.

"We should make sure he's ok" Oliver said pushing the door open gently.

The sight they are welcomed to is their little boy holding tightly onto a teddy bear, fast asleep. But Felicity can see the lines of fear across his face.

"Oh Tommy" she whispers and walks over to him. When she takes a seat on his bed, she sees the hint of sweat coasting down his forehead.

She carefully picks him up, and without warning he jolts up and cries.

"Hey, hey it's ok, it's just me" Felicity whispers into his hair.

"Buddy it's ok, you're safe" Oliver says as he quickly comes over to soothe the little boy with his hand to his back, drawing comforting circles on his spine.

"It's ok" she says once more.

When the toddler realizes that he is in his mother's arms, he immediately loops his arms around her neck with all his strength, to the point if he holds any tighter, she might start choking.

"Mommy, I had a bad dream" he says whimpering and still crying.  
"I know, and it's ok, mommy and daddy are here."

"I promise the bad man is gone" Oliver whispers into his hair.

After a few more minutes in the morning silence, with rays of sunlight shining through the clear window, Felicity finally stands up.

"Alright I was promised breakfast and intend to get it. What about you little guy, are you hungry?"

The only acknowledgment she receives is a head nod to her chest.

"I will take that as a yes."

With that, Oliver also stands up and wraps his arms around her and guides his little family to the kitchen.

With smells escaping the large modern, four people slowly make their way down the stairs to the wonderful aroma.

"What's going on?" Moira asks as she walks through the threshold.

Felicity is sitting at the table, swaying gently holding Tommy to her chest. While this is going on Oliver is on the other side of the kitchen flipping omelets.

"Oh, Oliver are you ok? Are you hurt?" Laurel says practically running to him and taking him in. "I was so worried."

"Are we just going to pretend that last night didn't happen?" Moira asked ignoring Laurel's actions.

"Yeah Ollie, you were attacked by a psycho maniac, and you're just going to brush it under the rug?" Tommy asked.

"Who was that man, Oliver?" Moira asks.

Looking to Felicity worried, all he sees in her eyes is trust. "I don't know. I've never seen that man before in my life." He says while taking Laurel's hands off his chest gently.

"Oliver don't you need to get ready for work?" Felicity asked eyeing him with a deeper meaning.

"Yeah" he says bringing a plate over to her and kisses her head.

"I should clean up…"

"I've got it." She says looking him in the eye to reassure him. "Go, I'll be fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. I'm not letting this little guy go anytime soon." Then she whispers, "I'll figure this out, I promise."

After a smile of reassurance, Oliver leaves the kitchen and goes upstairs to get ready for his day.

When he comes down 15 minutes later he is carrying two jackets with him.

"As of last night, this place has been compromised, but unfortunately I can't let you leave." Oliver says in his commanding tone.

"Why not Ollie?" Laurel asks. "What if he comes back? There is a whole world out there and even if we get caught, I would rather take those odds than be a sitting duck here. "

"Laurel, we've been over this, it's too dangerous for you to leave. You could change something, and I'm not risking that."

"Since when have you been so concerned about science fiction? Because that's all it is, Ollie, SCIENCE FICTION."

"Well not quite" Felicity mutters.

Taking a deep breath in through his nose, Oliver ignores his friends comment. "Look I have a friend who is going to keep watch, and make sure this man doesn't make an appearance."

After he says this, he gives the two jackets to Felicity, for her to put on her and Tommy.

"A friend?" Moira asks boarder line disgusted.

"A Lieutenant actually" Felicity says defending her friend through clench teeth.

Oliver takes Tommy and gets up.

"Oh, and where are you going?" Laurel asks Felicity.

"You know Laurel not all of us are going to make it as Trophy wives."

"Felicity" Oliver says in a warning tone. "Go"

Rolling her eyes, she exits the room.

"Just stay here. And call me if anything, and I mean anything happens."

And with that he leaves behind his family to wallow in their confusion.

When the elevator doors open, sounds of worried voices fill Oliver's ears.

"Oliver ok?"

"Are you guys ok?"

"What happened Hoss?"

But the only one he processes is the one who steps in front of him.

"Oliver, what happened?" Barry asked looking his friend in the eye.

"Slade. He attacked last night." Oliver says directing Felicity to her chair. The wondering eyes follow every step. When Felicity is settled in her chair, Tommy lifts his head from his mother's chest.

Barry immediately sees the tear tracks on the little boy's face. "Oh, Tommy. What did he do?" Barry asks almost seething.

Knowing who Barry was talking about, he puts his hands over his face as the memory comes back full force. Trying several times to speak and failing, he finally takes a deep breath and retells the story.

"He took Tommy from his bed and when I got down there he… he had a sword to his throat."

At the confession the room goes into an eerie silence.

"Oh my god" Caitlyn whispers in disbelief as she bows her head down and shuts her eyes.

Barry is the first to speak, "Where is he?" he asks with anger evident in his voice.

"He got away, my family woke up and I couldn't expose myself. But I did get in the shoulder."

"Oliver we're going to find him" Felicity says with determination.

The moment is quickly broken when his phone goes off. "I have to go, I have a mess to clean up."

"We'll look for Slade" Cisco says sitting down.

"Yeah, and I'll check you both out, make sure everything's ok" Caitlyn says to Felicity who simply nods.

"Thank you and let me know if you find anything." And with that he turns back to the elevator with Barry following closely behind.

"Oliver, we will find him and we will make him pay."

"Please watch them guard and protect them."

"With my life."

And with one final nod of understanding Oliver steps in the elevator and prepares himself for the next disaster awaiting him.

After leaving the bunker Oliver heads straight to City Hall and is instantly bombarded by questions of concern and questions of accusations if the events from last night actually happened.

Eventually making his way to his office, he immediately closes his door and takes a calming breath before proceeding to his desk. Sitting down he looks down at all of the paperwork littering his workspace.

"Oliver"

"Ollie"

"Thea. Lance"

"Are you ok?" Lance asks with a sense of worry lacing his tone and features.

"Yes, I'm fine- we're fine."

"Why didn't you call me last night?" Thea asked irritated.

"Honestly it didn't really cross my mind to talk to anyone, I was more focused on getting my 3-year-old to stop crying and back to bed and my wife to not get anymore stressed out then she already was."

Sighing he leans back into the chair and feels the adrenaline leaving him all at once and the whole night catching up to him full force.

"Ollie I'm sorry I…" not really knowing what to say she trails off and Quentin quickly picks up where she left off.

"Slade, where is he?"

"How did you know that it was..."

"Diggle. When I heard that the Mayor's home was attacked he was the first person I contacted."

"Right" taking a deep breath Oliver continues, "I don't know where he went, he disappeared, Felicity's tracking him down but she hasn't gotten anything yet."

"Is Tommy alright?" Thea asked.

"He's… Slade had him, a blade to his tiny throat."

"Oh my god" she said gasping and Quinten not fairing much better.

"I don't think he'll be ok for a while." Oliver said looking down guilty.

Seeing the sad look on her brother's face, she walks over to him and puts a hand to his shoulder. "Ollie, we're going to find him and this time he's not going to have a cell to go back to."

Once the clock strikes 5 O'clock, Oliver sighs realizing that he didn't really get anything done because he's been so focused on the safety of his family. His mind had strayed every time he tried to focus on the papers hovering on his desk. Slade's whereabouts and his motive, and how he even got out in the first place were far more important.

Shaking his head, he finally calls it a day and quickly leaves to go pick up Tommy and Felicity. He had been texting her and Barry constantly all day to make sure Slade didn't make a surprise appearance. He also contacted Dinah and Tommy a couple times to stay in the know.

When he arrives to the lair, he is met with Felicity quickly typing away and an intense glare glued on her face. Sensing the tension in her shoulders, he goes over to her and massages them.

"Hi" she murmurs looking up to meet his eyes.

"Hi. Any luck?"

"Nope. He's a ghost." She says irritated.

"You'll find him, I have faith in you."

"I hope so."

He kisses the crown of her head, and then hears a bubble of laughter from the other side of the room. Barry is playing with Tommy. It's a laugh he feared he wouldn't hear again.

"Keep looking."

Later that night after everyone is safely in bed he finds himself outside on the porch admiring the beautiful night.

"Mind if I join you?"

Oliver looks up from his glass and is met with eyes that used to haunt his dreams every night.

"Yeah, sure."

"Well one thing that hasn't changed, is the stars. Their beautiful and shine brighter than ever, especially out here."

"Yeah their Tommy's favorite. He is fascinated by the them, and I never truly understood it until one day it dawned on me, they're kind of like his protector when he sleeps."

Meeting his father's eyes, he holds his hands up in surrender "his words not mine…well as accurate as a 3-year-old can get."

Smiling Robert looks at his son for a second longer before something catches his eye. "Vodka? And pure Russian Vodka at that. I didn't know you drank this."

"Yeah well I went through a rough patch down the road that led me to that. Here" Oliver says pouring another glass and offering it to his father.

"Thank you" Simply nodding Oliver goes back to looking ahead of him.

After a couple minutes of the only sound between them is the night crickets, Robert finally speaks up.

"That was very brave, what you did last night."

"I would do anything for my son… for my family."

"I could see that, and I couldn't be prouder. Oliver look, I know I wasn't always there and I wasn't the best father"

"Dad-"

"But I am so glad that you didn't follow in my footsteps and took the high road."

"Dad, I couldn't have done it without you. You don't give yourself enough credit, I may not have known back then but I get it now, you were doing everything you could to provide and protect your family. And dad that is one of the most important lessons I have ever learned from anyone, and I'm really glad that you were the one that taught me that."

"Wow, Felicity really must have done a number on you."

Smirking Oliver looks at his father questioningly "What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means that she has helped you become the man that I always knew you could be."

Turning serious and sincere Oliver says the one thing that he has wanted to say since the day he came back to civilization, "Thank you dad."

Without even realizing it, tears form and make his eyes go misty and a few run down his cheek.

"I love you dad. I love you" and not wasting another second he leans over and embraces his father in a hug that he has been wanting to give him for the last 20 years.

Clearly being caught off guard by his son's affection, Robert sits stunned but then quickly comes back to his bearings and returns the hug.

"I love you too son. More than you will ever know."

This last scene is how I imagine Oliver's conversation with his dad would go. Thank you for reading.


	6. Chapter 6

I want to thank you guys for bearing with me, this last month has been crazy. But here we are, two chapters in two weeks, it's a record. Anyways I hope you enjoy this chapter and Please leave me some feedback, I LOVE to hear what you have to say!

"Alright little dude, let's go through this one more time. Take the snakes" she says holding up the laces on his left foot, while he takes the right.

"Then what?"

"Um" he says with his eyes squinted and a wrinkle on his forehead. "Over"

"Yeah"

"Un…."

"Under, right. Then what? The snakes are squirming, what do we do?"

"PULL & SMASH"

"That's right. Wow Oliver's right, I am getting violent" she mutters.

"Mama, now what? I forgot."

"Then we make a loop like this" she says demonstrating and he mimics.

"Like this mama?"

"Yes, just like that. Ok now we're in the final stretch, take me home buddy."

Holding the loop in his hand he thinks for a second and then takes the straight lace over the loop and then stops. Felicity watches encouragingly as she senses his hesitation.

"You know it, keep going" she whispers.

He struggles at first but when he pulls and the loops turns into a bow, he yells, "I did it!"

"Yes, you did" she says proudly. "You are totally going to kill this whole preschool thing. Not kill, more like rock. Yeah rock, you're going to rock preschool."

"Mama, I'm not in Preschool yet." he says laughing.

"Ok, ok I'm sorry. Now back to business. Flash Backpack."

"Here"

"Shoes"

He wiggles his feet for her to see. "Mama, I'm ready."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes!"

"Coat?"

He looks down and sees his Star Labs t-shirt.

"Gottcha" she says tickling him.

"Did someone order a coat?" Barry says walking in carrying the item in his hand.

"Thank you, I owe you big time" Felicity says looking up at her new visitor with a relieved smile. "Bruce will have my head if I don't get something done."

"It's no problem, I miss hanging out with him" he says walking towards them.

"Any leads?"

"No. You?"

"Nada. But I'll keep looking."

"Same. Are you ready Tommy?" He asks kneeling down to the little boy's level.

"Yes!"

"Alright then let's go. The science museum is waiting" he says standing up and grabbing the boys hand.

"Have fun!" Felicity says as Tommy drags Barry out of the room.

When she hears the door close, she shakes her head with a smile. Sighing she slowly gets up and makes her way to her home office.

After working for a solid 30 minutes, a small knock is heard. Looking up, she sees a face that is becoming quite familiar around the house.

"Robert, hi. Do you need something?"

"Oh, no I just saw Tommy leave a little while ago, thought I would just check in."

"Oh, well come in, please. I'm sorry for the mess."

"Nonsense, it's all part of the process."

"Oh, don't I know" she says under her breath.

Smiling, he takes a few steps into the room, "He's quite a darling boy."

"Yeah, he is, but he can be a handful sometimes. But in his defense, he does have Queen AND Smoak blood in him so he was bound to be Stubborn."

"Well it helps that he has a mother who loves him."

"I do, very much."

He looks around the room as he steps closer to her desk.

"This is quite an office you have."

"Oh, thank you. Yeah, it was a gift from Oliver. I told him that I needed a place to escape when I was easily outnumbered 2 to 1" she says looking around the office.

"May I?" he asks gesturing to the chair across from her.

"Yeah, yes, sure." She says nervously.

As he sits down he eventually meets her gaze.

Getting down to the point he says, "You have done an incredible job with this company."

"Thank you" she says sincerely, and then her slight blush turns into confusion, "Wait, how did you know?"

He looks down to his hands in his lap, "I may have looked you up and Oliver has told me how exceptional you are."

"Well, Oliver, exaggerates."

"He told me you would say that. He also mentioned how you graduated from MIT, very impressive."

"Well if you think that's impressive then I can't imagine what you'd say about double majoring in Computer Science by 19."

"Wow."

"Yeah."

"I saw some of the deals you made for the company, they were risky but smart."

"Well I never do a deal before I know absolutely everything about it."

"Smart girl. You know Computer Science is not Business."

"Oh, you have no idea how well I know that."

"So why go into something you didn't major in let alone go to school for?"

"Well for several reasons, one of them being, when I realized that your son wouldn't cut it as a CEO. But if I'm being honest, I did it because I want to make the world a better place. I don't know if Oliver told you this, but a couple years ago, I was paralyzed."

"What happened? If you don't mind me asking."

"It's fine, um, some gunmen shot up our limo right after Oliver proposed to me. He came out of it unscathed, and I almost lost my life that night. When they told me that I would never walk again, it destroyed me. Not because I couldn't do it, but because it changed everything."

"Well, you don't look paralyzed to me."

"Oh, well that's because I have an amazing friend that didn't stop until he built me a chip that would make me walk again."

"And it works?"

"Haven't been in a wheelchair since. Well that's a lie, I mean the chip does have its flaws, for instance if an EMP were to ever go off then it wouldn't work… hypothetically speaking of course."

He chuckles at her ramble. "Well I am blown away, I'm just glad that the company is still in the family.

"Yeah." She studies him for a minute, looking at his soft tired eyes and the wrinkles that line his face. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Absolutely."  
"How did you do it? I mean not how like physically, well maybe a little bit. But… how did you balance being a businessman and have a family?"

"Honestly… I didn't. I'm not proud of the father I was… am because I wasn't there. And even when I was, I was never 100%. You see, my father created this company, and it was his pride and joy, and he had hopes for me. He had dreams of me taking over the company and keeping it in the family."

At the confession, Felicity looks down in shame because she knows that that promise was not always kept.

"But with all proud accomplishments comes give and take. And unfortunately, his take was more than his giving."

"He wasn't there for you."

It wasn't question, but merely a statement that she knew was true.

"No, he was always everywhere but where I needed him to be. I didn't understand it, until I had my own kids. In his defense he was building a multi-billion-dollar conglomerate from scratch. And let me tell you, that's not easy."

"Don't I know" she mutters under her breath.

"Felicity, you're doing a great job, in fact you're doing 100% better than any business person I have ever met, men and women."

"Thank you, that really means a lot. You know I never wanted kids, well until I met Oliver and fell madly in love, but now I can't imagine a life without them."

"Well my advice to you, is be there, be involved. Because if you're not, 10 days turn into 10 years, and you miss out on every single important moment. I don't think you'll have a problem though, because from what I've seen, you are an amazing mother to Tommy, and an incredible wife to Oliver. And I have to thank you for that, because my son does not deserve anything less, and you truly helped him grow into the man that I always knew he could be."

She brushes the comment off with a swipe of her hand. "I can't take all the credit, I just love him."

After spending two full hours of walking the halls in pure wonder, Barry and Tommy end up at the food court.

"Your dad's going to kill me" he says laying the slice of pizza in front of the three-year-old. Tommy claps his hands excitedly and says "Thanks Uncle Barry."

"Your welcome" he says with a smile.

As he bites into his first of five slices, his phone rings. Pulling it out he answers it.

"Hello?"

"Hey, we have something" Cisco says on the other side of the phone.

As Barry listens he grows more serious. "Yeah, I'll let him know. Thanks for calling, I'll see you later.'

Once he hangs up, he scarfs down the remaining pizza and looks at Tommy. "Alright little guy, you want to go see your dad?"

"Yeah" he says happily with greasy fingers.

Grabbing a napkin and wiping off the little boy's hands, he gathers the rest of their trash and makes his way to the exit.

When they arrive at City Hall, he's stopped by a short brunette no older than her 40's with a grey pencil skirt, working on a stack of papers.

"Can I help you?"

"Yes, we're to see Mayor Queen?"

"Do you have an appointment?" She asks not looking up from her computer.

"Well no, but…"

"No appointment. No access. The Mayor is a very busy man."

"I understand that but…"

"And he does not want or need to be interrupted by someone who did not take the time to make an appointment." She says sternly, looking Barry in the eyes.

"But, I'm a friend of his, and th- this is his son. Right Tommy?"

"I wanna see daddy." He says pouting at the fact he has to wait.

When the secretary sees the blonde little boy, her eyes widen.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Tommy I didn't see you there. You can go in" she says sweetly to the Mayor's son.

As they start to walk, she turns her attention back to Barry and glares at him until he closes the door of the office.

"Daddy!"

Looking up from the document he's reading, he smiles at the pleasant surprise.

"Tommy, hi. This is a surprise" he says standing up and walking around his desk to give his son a hug.

"Your secretary's feisty and scary." Barry says looking from the door to Oliver who is now holding Tommy.

"Oh, Carol? Ignore her, she doesn't get out much, and she's very protective of my use of time."

"Well that explains a lot" Barry says walking toward him.

"So, what's going on? I thought you guys were going to the Science Museum?"

"Oh, we did, didn't we Tommy?"

"Yeah. So fun, we saw spaceships, and dinosaurs, and water."

"Water?"

"Yeah, water" he says with his shining excitement.

"Well I'm glad you had fun." He says kissing the crown of his son's head. "So, what are you doing here?"

"I just got a call from Cisco, he said he found some more information on both our villains, and said this may be more personal than you thought."

"How?"

"Apparently, your father wasn't the only one to cause harm to them. When the Undertaking happened, Albert Watts lost his home and his wife."

"And the other one?"

"His daughter."

Sighing, Oliver puts Tommy down and leans on his desk. "Their sins will never atone, will they?" he mutters.

"Look, we're going to find them and stop them, I promise."

"We better, because if we don't, they're going to kill them."

Later that night, after everyone has gone to bed, Felicity's in the living room working on final touches of her proposal. The fire and glow of her laptop are the only sources of light. 45 minutes of pure concentration and silence, are interrupted, by Moira sauntering into the room, with a smirk.

"Felicity Megan Smoak. The daughter of a cocktail waitress. Now what is a woman from a single mother and Sin City doing with my son?"

"Excuse me" she says defensively as she closes the top of her laptop.

"You heard me."

She slowly stands up for equal ground. "How do you know my past?"

"You're not the only one who can use a laptop, Felicity."

Felicity takes deep breaths to calm down and prevent herself from doing something she will soon regret.

"My son may not be the brightest person under the sun, but I do know that he would never stoop as low as you."

Gritting her teeth, she closes her eyes and counts back from 10. '10…9…'

"So, what did you do? Get pregnant, lock him into a marriage, blackmail him?"

"STOP! DID YOU EVER THINK FOR A SECOND THAT IT MIGHT BE BECAUSE HE LOVES ME?" She explodes.

"That's not how the world works sweetheart."

"Well that's how MY world works. You may have come from money and a place where all you have to do is snap your prissy little fingers and everything's done for you. Therefore, love doesn't matter to you. It's just another means to an end. I mean money can buy love, right? You proved that with Malcom."

Her voice turns dangerously low. "How did you know about that?"

"Oh, you're not the only one that can type a few words in Google, Moira." She snaps back. "You think that love equals power and that's it. That there doesn't have to be a connection."

"That's because Love IS power."

"NO! Love is so much more than that, and if you took one second to even let yourself acknowledge what love was, you might have been a good mother."

At the accusation, Moira slaps Felicity, and the sound echoes throughout the room with the crackle of the fire.

"You, pathetic woman. Don't you EVER talk to me like that again." She spits out.

Feeling the sting in her left cheek, she looks the woman, she despise, in the eye. "What? Tell you the truth Moira? Is that not what you want to here? You never change" she mutters the last part. "Money and power, that's all that matters to you. OPEN YOUR EYES Moira, if you took a second to really look at Oliver you would see that he's happy. Truly happy. And that's not because of Laurel, that's because of me." She walks up closely to the woman in front of her. "You can threaten me, call me names, wish that I was never in the picture, I can take it. But don't you DARE question for a second Oliver's happiness, because it has taken him to DAMN long to get it."

And without another word, she walks out with her head held high. Leaving Moira left in the dust with a look she's never encountered before. A look of defeat. She had just been conquered by the woman claiming to be Oliver's wife.

I hope you enjoyed it. I would LOVE to hear your thoughts. And be prepared next chapter is bringing the punches ( Laurel VS Felicity [maybe]) Stay tuned!


	7. Chapter 7

Climbing the stairs became harder and harder as she reached the top. At the last step, she stopped to catch her breath, all of her adrenalin was gone. Sighing she made her way to the master bedroom. Pushing the door open, she sees Oliver standing by his dresser taking his watch off and putting it away.

Not looking up from the watch Oliver asks, "Hey, did you get your proposal done?"

Felicity doesn't answer, instead makes her way over to the bed.

"Felicity?" he asks turning around to face her. When he sees the sad look he immediately goes over to her. "Hey what's going on?" he tilts her chin up. "Hey what happened to your cheek?"

"It's nothing, Oliver."

He cups her cheek. "That doesn't look like nothing to me. Who did this to you?"

"Oliver leave it alone, I'm tired."

"Felicity. Who hit you?" Realizing she's not getting out of this, she sighs and begins to tell him.

"Your mother and I got into a little confrontation" she says avoiding his eyes.

"My mother did this to you?" he seethes.

"Oliver, I can handle it."

But he doesn't listen and clenches his fists and his jaw and walks to the door with purpose.

"Oliver, don't" she says grabbing his arm.

"Felicity, stay here." And without another word, he walks out of the room and down to the living room. When his eyes reach the open living room, he sees Moira staring into the fire. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

Moira looks up from the flames with wide eyes when she hears her son's angered voice.

"Oliver?"

"You cannot just walk into MY house and hurt my wife."

"Oliver, I didn't do anything of that nature."

"Then why is her cheek bright red, and about to bruise? And if you say she's lying, I will stop you right there, because if there's anything I know about Felicity, it's that she's a terrible liar."

She purses her lips and turns her gaze back to the fire.

"Well then she shouldn't have tested me" she mutters.

"What is your problem with her? She is literally the perfect woman for me. She's smart, strong, not afraid to speak her mind. So, what is it, huh?" He takes small but determined steps towards her. "Because Moira Queen never has a grudge on someone, just because."

Sharply turning her attention to her son, she squares him up. Oliver crosses his arms and has his head tilted up defensively, knowing that while he loves his mother, he will defend his wife with everything in him.

Seeing the challenge in his stance, she decides to take a softer approach. "I guess I'm just confused. Oliver the last time I saw you, you were careless and could not make up your mind to save your life. You and Laurel were on good terms and I thought that you were finally going to grow up and ask her to marry you. But then I find out that the woman in your life is not Laurel at all, but someone I don't know. I'm just trying to figure out what could have changed so drastically in the last few years for you to create a life that is unrecognizable. I mean you are the Mayor, and she's running 'our' company."

"Then why not ask me?" he asks desperately.

"I didn't know how to" she says looking down.

"But harassing my wife, was a better option?"

She doesn't say anything at the remark. Closing his eyes, he brings his fingers to his temples.

"You know I would have expected this from Laurel, but not you."

"Well I'm sorry if I wanted to protect my son."

"Protect me from what, mom? From a petite blonde that I've known for the last 7 years?"

She advances a few steps on him. "She's hiding something, and I mean Vegas girls aren't really your type, unless… Did she trap into a marriage?" She turns and begins to speak to herself. "That makes sense, I mean that would explain why you married a low life- "

"Mother!" Anger is radiating off him at this point, he hasn't felt this much anger towards this woman since she threatened Felicity to keep Thea's parentage a secret. "First of all, Felicity may be from Vegas, but she is far from it. And second of all she did NOT trap me into this marriage, as a matter of fact I was the one who asked her to marry me, several times if I might add. Felicity might not be Laurel, but she is by far the best thing that's ever happened to me."

Seeing the sincerity in his eyes, she softens up a bit, but she's still not convinced.

"Oliver, Sweetheart, I- "

Instead of letting her go into her signature half apology, Oliver walks up dangerously close to her.

"And if you EVER call Felicity a low life again, I promise you, those will be the last words you speak to me."

Not waiting for her response, he turns around and goes up the stairs and back to Felicity.

When he walks through the door, he sees her sitting under the covers and looking down at her hands resting in her lap.

"How much of that did you hear?"

"Enough."

Knowing words aren't going to comfort her, he joins her in bed, pulls her to his chest, and kisses the crown of her head.

"I love you. Always have, Always will."

The next morning, Thea and Roy walk through the door laughing and holding hands. When they reach the door to the dining room, they immediately stop.

"We just walked into a freaking battle front, I can feel the tension seeping through the air." Thea said.

"I wonder what happened" Roy said looking at the death glares and loss of eye contact going on around the room.

"I don't know but some bad shit went down last night" Tommy says coming to stand by them."

"What do you mean"? Thea asks.

"All I heard was Oliver yelling at Moira. Something about her slapping Felicity or something."

"She slapped Felicity?" Thea asked in disbelief.

"No wonder Oliver's jaw is so tight, and has that 'beat the crap out of someone' look in his eye."

"No, this one's more like 'I want to murder someone'" Thea whispers to him.

"No, his eyes are dark but they're not that dark, clearly you've never seen him in action."

"You take that back, I have too" she says slapping his chest and playfully glaring at him.

"Oh ok, so you've seen your brother on a murder spree?"

Her mouth opens but nothing vocally comes out.

"Ah ha, got you."

All while the two lovebirds are flirting, Tommy is listening with wide eyes, not knowing whether to believe them or not.

"Aunt Thea! Uncle Roy!"

"Tommy" Thea says going over to her nephew who is currently waving a piece of watermelon stuck on his fork.

"What?" Tommy whispers and shakes his head in disbelief when Roy follows her.

Thea picks the little boy up and showers him with kisses. "Well hello my favorite little boy in the world."

Roy stands behind her and catches Felicity's eye. "You ok?" he mouths.

She slightly nods and puts on a small smile, and Roy turns his attention to the man beside her to confirm her answer. The only thing Oliver gives him is a look that says 'we'll talk later'.

"Thea, this is a nice surprise" Moira says laying her fork down and turning to her daughter.

Looking up from the kisses she's giving little Tommy, she only responds with a glare to her mother.

"Thea, Roy would you like some breakfast?'" Oliver asks getting up from his seat.

"Breakfast!" Little Tommy says pumping his arm in the air.

"Yeah, we got it" Roy says leading Thea, who still has Tommy in her arms, to the kitchen.

When they're out of sight, the room goes back to pure silence, with Felicity and Tommy looking down at their plates and Laurel with a smug look plastered on her face looking at Felicity. Robert finally breaks the silence.

"Moira, may I speak with you for a second? Alone." Robert stands up and never leaves eye contact with her.

"But darling, I'm not done with my omelet."

"Now."

Huffing, Moira stands as well and follows Robert out of the room.

Robert holds the door open for his wife and ushers her into the room they have been sharing. When she is in the middle of the room, he closes the door and turns back to her.

"Is there a reason you brought me up here?" she asks with her arms crossed to her chest.

"Yes, there is. What you did last night was extremely inappropriate. Just because Felicity is not Laurel does not mean, she's not a good match for Oliver. Moira, this is your problem, you always try to manipulate our children's lives."

"I do not…"

"I'm not done yet. You try to control every situation to the tee and when it doesn't go your way you throw a fit. Felicity is a good woman, she's makes Oliver happy, she's a good wife, a good mother. How do you not see that?"

"She's a threat. No person is that good and innocent Robert. She's hiding something, and I am going to find out what it is."

"Moira, you are walking on thin glass. Have you even thought about the reason why our grandson doesn't know us? Because I have, and I fear that this behavior is the very reason why. Look at me."

She doesn't comply at first and folds her arms over her torso, so he gently grabs her chin.

"Look at me. Now you're going to listen to me very carefully. You are going to apologize to her."

She scoffs at the very idea of apologizing to that woman.

"Don't scoff at me, you have done enough damage and this time you can't make a phone call and make this all go away. This time you're damage control and you are going to fix this."

"And if I don't? "she challenges.

"You will. And you want to know why? Because if you don't, our son will never forgive you and frankly neither will I." Without another word he exits the room with his shoulders tense.

Later that night, after everyone has gone to bed, Oliver wipes the granite counter top for the last time. He lays the towel on the oven handle, when his little boy comes into the kitchen rubbing his eyes and carrying a blue blanket.

"Daddy?"

"Tommy, what are you doing up? It's bedtime."

"Can't sleep" he says with a little pout he inherited from his mother.

Oliver walks over to the little boy and picks him up. "What do you mean you can't sleep? Everyone else is."

"No" then toddler says crossing his arms in defiance.

Sighing, Oliver says, "Alright, I guess you can watch some baseball with daddy."

"Yay" the little boy says throwing his arms in excitement.

"I will take that as a yes" Oliver says walking them to the living room.

Getting settled in, Oliver plays the game he missed that day, while Tommy leans on his side out like a light within 15 minutes. Oliver looks over, and smiles at the sight of his little boy clutching his blanket tightly to his chest and his mouth slightly opened.

After another 10 minutes, Oliver's about to call it a night, when someone enters.

"You're still up."

"That sounded more like a statement than a question." Oliver says meeting his friend's eyes.

"That's because it was, this just proves that you aren't as old as you look."

"Ha, ha, it's nice to see that humor of yours never left."

"It hurts that you doubt my ability to get out of any situation with a single joke."

"No doubt, just relief." Oliver's eyes go soft, and then he quickly breaks contact to turn back to the game.

Tommy steps closer into the room and decides to change the subject.

"So, where did you learn how to fight like that?" When Tommy asks the question, Oliver tenses up and tries to think of something to tell his friend.

"Umm, I've been taking self-defense classes."

"And self-defense classes teach you how to throw a sword like that or how to shoot a bow and arrow like that."

Thinking he got caught he says the first thing that comes to his mind, "Their old school like that."

"Right" his friend says taking a seat on the opposite side of the sofa. Changing the subject, Tommy gets straight to it. "So, Felicity's great."

Smiling Oliver nods "Yeah she is, isn't she?"

"I'm not gonna lie, it is kind of weird to see her rather than Laurel here, not that I have anything against Felicity, it's just seemed like a done deal."

"Yeah, well as time went on, actually after meeting Felicity I realized that what Laurel and I had was nothing compared to what I have with Felicity. And I know that sounds bad, but it's just when I met her I felt things I never felt with Laurel, I saw things that I never saw with Laurel."

"What things?"

"Well like, when I make mistakes or lie to Felicity, the guilt eats me alive. I would do anything for her forgiveness. As with Laurel I would never feel guilty, no matter how many times I cheated on her. And I know that's bad to say, but it's the truth."

"Yeah, well the truth hurts sometimes right?" Tommy says trying to ease the tension.

"And you said you could see things with her?"

Giving a small smile Oliver said, "Yeah, I could see a future with her. With Laurel, my future was already planned, take over my father's position, have kids, a big house, and so on. But with Felicity, we got to plan it together, and that's when I realized that I wanted it all, the wife, the kids, the house…"

"And you got it all" Tommy says.

"Yeah, I did and it was the best decision I have ever made" he says laying a kiss on his sleeping son.

"I'm happy for you Ollie."

"Thank you, Tommy, that means a lot coming from you."

"Your welcome buddy."

The next afternoon Felicity is taking a nap with her little man, when Laurel corners Tommy.

"Laurel" Tommy says surprised.

"We need to talk" she says pulling him down to the stairs to the living room.

"What is going on? Slow down Laurel."

When they get to the threshold, he sees Robert, and Moira sitting on the sofa.

"Where's Oliver?" Tommy asks as Laurel walks to the middle of the room.

"He left, something about Mayoral duties."

"I still can't believe he's the Mayor" Tommy mutters.

"I don't think any of us can" Robert says.

"Focus" Laurel snaps.

"What is so important, I was about to go lounge out by their beautiful pool. I mean have you seen that thing, it was made for me."

"I am not the only one who has noticed that Oliver won't let us leave this tower. The question is why? Their hiding something."

"What do you propose?" Moira asks intrigued.

"We leave and go find out why."

"Laurel, you heard what Oliver said it could be dangerous."

"I agree with Tommy on this, if Oliver is telling us not to leave this place, I'm sure its for a good reason."

"No offense Robert, but I cannot stand being stuck in this stuffy home another minute, now are you coming with me or not?"

"I'm in" Moira says tilting her chin up in approval.

"This is a very bad idea."

Laurel gets close to him. "Oh, come on Tommy, you can't honestly look me in the eye and tell me you're not the least bit curious about the future."

He bites his lip, tempted at the offer. "I mean it would be nice to see where I ended up."

"That's the spirit, then let's go" she says grabbing his hand and leading them out the door.

Oliver is sitting in the conference room listening to the board discuss the new developments for the Glades. A knock on the door, interrupts the rooms concentration. Quentin emerges from behind the door. "I'm sorry to interrupt Mayor Queen, but you have a phone call."

Sensing the urgency in the older man's tone, Oliver excuses himself and steps out.

"What's going on?"

Quentin hands the phone.

"Hello?"

"Oliver, so you know how you told us to call you if we came across anything unusual?"

"What is it Cisco?"

"Well there seems to be a bank robbery at Star Union."

"What does that have to do with me? Let the police handle it." He says in a tight voice.

"I would but its Mirakuru soldiers."

Realizing the situation at hand, Oliver presses his lips together causing his forehead to crease in frustration. "I can't leave. But… Barry can. Send Barry, you think he can do it without backup?"

"Pfft, I mean, they don't call him the Flash for nothin."

"Cisco go with him."

"Alright, if you insist, but I'll have to call Felicity to run coms- "

"Don't bother Felicity, she didn't sleep well last night, is there anyone else who could take over coms?"

"I can" Caitlyn says.

"Alright, keep me updated, and try not to cause too much damage."

"You do realize we're battling super soldiers, right?"

"Just stop them." And with that Oliver hangs up the phone, collects himself and goes back into the conference room.

AT STAR UNION:

"GET DOWN! MOVE & I'LL SHOOT!"

15 Mirakuru men dressed in all black, aim their guns at the civilians laying fearfully on the floor. A man moves and one of the Mirakuru soldier fires his gun. Before the bullet reaches the mans chest, it is caught.

"I don't know where you come from but where I'm from it's not nice to shoot people."

"Yeah did you not learn in school? Guns, Bad." Cisco says walking out of his breech.

"What are you doing here?"

"Oliver said you might need backup, and you know what they say."

"No, what do they say?"

"Always do what Oliver says."

"Can't argue with that" Barry mutters.

The sound of shots being fired, breaks them from their reverie, and springs them into action. After a few minutes, they fell into a rhythm, Barry would get people out and Cisco would hold the bad guys off. Which was harder than it looked, these guys were strong.

When everyone was safely out of the bank, they both finished taking down the soldiers. A few were casualties but most of them escaped.

A few moments before the bank heist is happening, a few blocks away, Laurel and the rest of the crew are walking down the street.

"Well I have to say not a lot has changed, maybe the haircuts, I mean what is that thing on that dude's head?"

"I think that would be a bun" Laurel says responding to Tommy's observation.

"That's just weird."

On the other end of the group, Moira looks back for what feels like the tenth time since in the last five minutes.

"What seems to be the problem Moira?" Robert asks.

"It's the way those people are looking at me."  
"What's different? We are Queen's after all."

"No, they're looking at me like I've done something terrible and I have been shunned or something."

"Your just being paranoid dear." He says continuing to take in the beautiful day.

"I know what you mean, I'm getting a strange vibe as well" Laurel says looking around, and feeling like a thousand people are staring at her.

Before she can say anything else, they hear screams up ahead.

"What was that?" Laurel asks.

"I don't know, but we should go check it out." Tommy said already jogging to the crowd up ahead.

"Sure, that's what you do when you hear screams, run towards it" Laurel mutters.

Right before Barry leaves, he catches a glimpse of four familiar faces.

"Oh crap"

"What? We just saved the day.

"Do those four faces look familiar?" Barry asks pointing them out.

"Double crap, those look like- "

Without thinking, Barry super speeds them back to the house.

"What the- "Laurel starts

"How did we- "

"I don't know" Moira says.

And the mystery continued, because before they could process what was going on, Barry was already on his way to the Mayor's office.

" _Reports say that everyone made it out safely and the only casualties were a few of the bad guys. But the odd thing that caught everyone's attention was the man- or should I say men behind today's rescue. It seems The Flash has made a pit stop in Star City and we couldn't be more grateful- "_

Oliver shuts the T.V. off.

"Well it looks like, Bart came in handy after all."

"It's Barry and Yes, he did."

A gush of wind appears in the office, and then comes to a stop.

"Speak of the devil."

"Good job, you saved the day. Did they steal anything? What did they want?"

"I'm not completely sure on that, but we have a bigger problem."

"What?"

"Your family was there."

"What?!"

"And when I say family, I mean your parents, Laurel- "

"BARRY! What did they see? More importantly did people see them?"

"Umm, I'm going to say yes."

Closing his eyes, he brings his fingers to his temples. "Where are they now?"

"Back at your place, and they probably don't know how they got there now that I think about it."

"Thank you, Barry."

Foot thuds can be heard throughout the house as Oliver makes his way to the place he knows where all four of them reside. Entering the living room, he goes in hot.

"What were you thinking?"

"What were we thinking? We wanted answers." Laurel said standing up.

"So, you went behind my back and left the house, after I specifically told you not to."  
"You didn't actually think we were going to be stuck here all day and night, and like it did you?" She says getting up close and personal with him.

"Yes Laurel, call me Naïve, but I wanted you safe. But I should have known, you've never been one to take orders. Your reckless Laurel."

"Screw you, Ollie."

"Oliver, why were those people staring at me in disgust?"

"Yes, they all did seem to act a little odd around us."

'What's going on Ollie?"

'Yeah, what are you hiding Oliver?"

All the questions bombarded him, all at the same time and he loses it.

"BECAUSE YOU ARE ALL DEAD."


	8. Chapter 8

_Hey guys, I know it's been a long time, and I wish I could use school as my only excuse, but I can't, but I will say writer's block has been a pain. But clearly, I got through it because I am posting this. I hope you enjoy it and please let me know what you think!_

 _Previously on When Ghosts Come Back to Haunt:_

" _BECAUSE YOU'RE ALL DEAD"_

"What?" Moira asks stunned.

Oliver's eyes bulge, realizing what he just said.

"What do you mean dead?" Laurel almost screeches.

"I-" Oliver stutters trying to find a way to recover from this disaster. "No… well yes."

"Well which is it Ollie, yes or no?" Tommy demands.

"Oliver? What's with all the yelling?" Felicity asks tiredly while rubbing her eyes, as she enters the room.

The moment he hears the familiar voice that saves him from trouble, he turns and sends her an SOS.

Seeing the tension in his posture and face, she immediately meets his eyes and sees the look of someone who has just screwed up.

"What's wrong?"

All while the husband and wife share a silent conversation through the language of their eyes, everything begins to make sense to Laurel.

"Now everything makes sense. The reason why I'm not here is because I'm not alive. Which means that, you" she says pointing to Felicity, "are my sloppy seconds."

"What? No" Oliver says immediately. "Ok look, yes you are all… dead."

"But?" Tommy asks.

"But nothing, there's nothing else to tell."

"Well, how about how we kicked the bucket, because I'm still young."

"I-I can't tell you that. It would screw –

"Things up, yeah we got it." Tommy mumbles. "Whatever."

"Tommy where are you going?"

"I need to process my whole demise, considering that I don't actually die late in my 80's from over alcoholism."

"That's not a thing" Felicity says confused.

"Well Felicity, it was a sure plan, so it was going to be a thing." And with that he leaves the room.

Turning back to the three others, he starts to say something, when Laurel holds up her hand.

"Save it. Just save it." And with that she is gone.

"Mom. Dad. Say something, anything, please."

"Well it's not overall surprising, I suppose." Robert mutters under his breath.

"Robert, don't say that" Moira comes to comfort.

"Isn't it Moira, I mean-" And then he abruptly stops when he remembers that they're not the only ones in the room.

Finally meeting Oliver's eyes for the first time, he pats his son's shoulder and says. "Thank you, for telling us." And then leaves the room with Moira following close behind.

"Well, that went well." Felicity says looking over to her confused husband.

A couple days pass, with everyone slowly coming to terms with the truth. They all keep their distance, and Oliver understands, but it slowly kills him inside knowing that he was the one to cause this pain. It almost feels like he has lost them all over again, and he hates it.

Felicity can see the conflict within him, and knows the only way she can help him, is by being ready to be there for him, when he is.

As the days drag on, he sees himself seeing the cement walls of the lair more than the chestnut hardwood floors of his home. He throws himself into finding Slade, with John, Roy and the rest of team Flash.

On the fourth night of silence from his loved ones, he decides to bury himself in what he does best, a good workout.

So right after dinner, he stands up, puts the dishes away and whispers to Felicity.

"I'm gonna go check on the progress. Hold down the fort?"

She softly nods "yeah". And he kisses the top of her head, right before doing the same to his son.

When he leaves, she looks over to her messy little man. "Alright bath time, little boy.

After his bath, she dresses him and tucks him into bed.

"I love you this much" Tommy says holding his arms out as far as he can.

"Well I love you to the stars and back."

"Is that a lot mommy?" her little boy asked her with curious eyes.

"So much."

"Ok, well then I love you more."

"Doubtful" she whispers. "Goodnight Tommy" she says giving him a kiss on the head.

"Goodnight mommy" he says cuddling his teddy bear to his chest.

As she gets up to leave, he calls to her when she gets halfway to the door that is opened slightly.

"Mommy, doesn't daddy love me?

That question stops her in her tracks and turns back to the boy with a quivering lip.

"What? Of course, daddy loves you, why would ask that?" She sits back down on the side of the bed.

"Because he didn't want to play with me today."

"Oh sweetheart" she says bringing her son to her chest and wrapping her arms around his small torso. "Daddy loves you so much, he's just been a little busy lately that's all. But that does not mean he loves you any less. Ok?" she asks pulling him back to meet his crystal blue orbs.

"Ok" he says going back into the hug.

After tucking him back into bed, she turns on the stars above and closes the door to a sliver.

When she's in the hall, she leans against the wall and closes her eyes. Taking deep breaths, she had been so consumed by their uninvited guest, she hadn't even thought, how this would affect her son. Once she's finally calm, she pushes herself off the wall and heads toward her room.

When she walks into the master she finds someone she never thought she'd catch dead in here.

"Laurel? What are you doing in here? This is my room, yours is on the other side of the property."

Ignoring Felicity, Laurel skims her finger over the white marble fire place. "I was just exploring the place. Seeing what my master bedroom would have looked like." Turning to face the woman at the door, she says, "and I must say, I am a little disappointed. I would have imagined the place dawning Gold's and Silver's not black and green."

"Well that's none of your business" she mutters flustered. "What are you doing in here?"

"You know Felicity, I don't like you."

"That makes two of us" she mutters under breath.

"I don't like the fact that you get to have my dream life, that you get to have the love of my life. I tried to understand what Ollie sees in you-"

"Yeah what'd that take, three seconds?"

"But frankly I don't see it. I mean there could not be anybody any more polar opposite to him than you."

"Did you ever stop to think that maybe that's not such a bad thing?"

"No, because it is a bad thing, Ollie needs someone who understands him; someone like him."

"That's funny, he tried that and ended up unhappier than he already was." She says crossing her arms.

Grasping at a comeback, Laurel says the first thing that comes to mind.

"And the way you talk to him, it's borderline abusive."

"Excuse me? If you consider me talking to Oliver like an equal rather than a superior, abuse, then what's marriage? Oh, that's right you never got to that part with him."

Her face scrunches up sourly. "You know I may not have gotten to marriage by the sounds of it, but if I did I would never talk to Oliver the way you do. You pick fights with him, you call him out on his shit."

"And that is why you are not sharing a room with him" she says throwing her hands up. "I call him out on his mistakes because that's what marriage is about, it's about helping your partner see his mistakes and help him grow. Not letting things slide just because we want to make poor Ollie happy. Oliver and I came to an agreement even before our marriage, that we would be open and honest with each other. And so far, it's worked, and I really don't see it failing any time soon."

"You don't know Oliver like I do. Ollie and I's relationship, we're perfect for each other, practically soulmates. We have been since the moment we laid eyes on each other the first morning of kindergarten. We were high school sweethearts. Each other's first kisses."

"Well sometimes, those relationships don't last."

"No. You don't understand; this relationship was destined to be. I had everything planned to a t. I was supposed to become Mrs. Queen."

"Oh, my apologies, I didn't know that when one 'soulmate' asked the other to move in together, that soulmate B would hop on a boat the first chance he got with her sister."

"What?" Laurel asks confused.

"Never mind. My point is, if you were the love of Oliver's life, he would have done anything and everything to be faithful to you. But he didn't, and he wasn't."

Feeling the venom course through her veins at the statement, Laurel spats out.

"You don't deserve this life. This was all supposed to be mine. That little boy that clings to you was supposed to cling to me."

At that accusation, Felicity knows that she went too far.

"Don't you talk about my son."

"Or what? What are you gonna to do? We all know your WEAK." She seethes.

The slap comes out of nowhere, but its powerful. Not giving Laurel anytime to backfire with threats and remarks, Felicity continues. She was done keeping her mouth shut around 'Gorgeous Laurel'.

"You do not get to come into MY home and threaten what's mine. You can bitch all you want, but that's not going to change anything. Oliver chose me and there is not a day that goes by that he regrets that. Listen to the words coming out of my mouth Laurel, 'he doesn't want to be with you."

"That's bullshit-"

"He didn't then and he sure as hell doesn't now."

"That isn't true, I know him and I have loved him, he would never do this to me."

Seeing the denial in her eyes, the blonde takes the last step that will make her see the reality before her.

"Laurel listen to yourself, you defend him over and over again, and for what? He cheated on you not once, not twice but ALL the time. If Oliver ever did that to me, he knows that I would drop him so quickly he wouldn't know what hit him. If he ever did that to me he knows that I would NEVER forgive him. The difference between you and me, is that I know what I'm worth. And I know when to let go, and when to hold on. Our love is powerful, it's one of the rare one's. I am not just his wife, I hold several titles to that man, but the most important one is, I am his partner. I stand beside him through the brightest of days, but specifically the darkest of nights. So, if it's a competition that you want, the truth is, I won."

Letting the last word hang in the air, Felicity holds her ground. Even with her tired body protesting, she holds firm because in that moment she would do everything in her power to defend her man.

"I'm assuming you know your way out."

With pursed lips, Laurel walks past her. When she reaches the doorway, Felicity turns back to her.

"Oh, and Laurel, if you ever doubt Oliver's love for me, just remember who got the class ring and who got the wedding ring.

Felicity is laying under the covers reading an article on her tablet, when Oliver finally enters the bedroom.

"Hey" he says leaning against the doorframe.

Looking up from the screen, she gives him a soft tired smile. "Hey. Did I miss something, was there a lead?"

Pushing off the frame, he goes over to the bed. "Yeah, but it wasn't much of anything."

Cocking her head to the side, she says, "You still should have told me."

"I didn't want to worry you unless it was something, which it wasn't. I also wanted Tommy to at least have one parent tuck him in."

"Yeah" she sighs.

Getting up he changes. "You ok? You look even more stressed than before I left."

"I'm fine, just a lot went down between the hour you left and now."

Climbing in bed with her, he gives her his full attention. "Like what?"

She turns her tablet off and puts it back on her night stand. "Like Tommy asking me if you still love him."

"What? Why did he ask that? He knows I love him. Right?"

Grabbing both his hands in hers, she says, "Yes, yes he does. Of course, he does, it's just I guess he had asked you earlier to play and you may have unknowingly brushed him off."

Closing his eyes, guilt paints his face.

"But I told him that you've just been busy, and that you love him more than anything."

"I feel awful. I never wanted to be That dad."

"What dad?"  
"The dad that makes you question whether he likes you or not."

"Oliver, he's 3, he's at that age where when he gets knocked down, he gets back up. He's going to wake up in the morning and probably forget the whole thing ever happened."

"I know, but still, he's right Felicity, I haven't been there for him. Not like I should be."

His eyes immediately grow sadder. Knowing the look in his eyes she kneels in front of him the best she can and cups his face with her hands.

"Hey, don't go there. Ok, yeah, you've been a little busy with your family coming back from the dead, and Slade coming back to enact his revenge. But don't you dare for a second think that that makes you a terrible father. I will tell you what a terrible father is. A terrible father abandons you and never comes to find you. A terrible father makes you kill someone under the influence for their benefit. Shall I continue?"

He shakes his head silently.

"Oliver, you are the best father I could have ever asked for, for our children. Your gentle and loving and in Tommy's short three years, you have taught him so much. He knows that he's loved and that he's safe, and he also knows what it means to be a hero. Our son is incredible because of you."

"Not true, he wouldn't be who he is without you either."

"I suppose I had something to do with it. I mean I did give birth to him and all."

"Thank you."

"Your welcome."

He brings his hand to cup her cheek and kisses her tenderly, and slides them back under the covers. Felicity turns and shuts off her light and goes back to staring at each other.

"I love you" she whispers.

"I love you too."

She snuggles into his embrace, with her mind going a mile a minute, over everything that went down with Laurel. Resting her chin on his chest she finally says the only thing she wants to acknowledge from the whole confrontation. The only thing that matters in the end.

"Oliver?"

"Hmm?"

"Thank you for choosing me."

"There's no one I'd rather choose to love with all my heart." He says sleepily.

And they both fall into the abyss of sleep.

So here it is, the battle I have been waiting forever to write. I know it may have seemed like Felicity may have gone down to Laurel's level a couple times, but I just wanted to express everything that I imagine could've gone down. The whole part about Felicity 'abusing' Oliver, came from inspiration on Tumblr. Someone had said that Felicity 'abuses him verbally', and I wanted to address my feelings on that through this, and I hope they were settled. Anyway, I hope that you enjoyed this and let me know what other things you guys would like to see in this story.


	9. Chapter 9

Hey guys so I know it's been a while, and I apologize for that. School has kicked my butt and writers block hit hard. BUT after all that time I think that I have produced one of the chapters I have ever written, I will warn you it is long, but I believe it's worth it. ANYWAYS Enjoy and let me know what you think!

Breathing in, Oliver's eyes open to a soft glow in the room. Something had woken him up, but nothing had raised any red flags around him. Felicity was softly snoring beside him, while hugging her pregnancy pillow close to her chest. The room was still in the early stages of Sunday morning, with the sunlight barely peeking through the sheer curtains, covering their French doors.

Still not understanding what stirred him from his sleep, he sits up knowing slumber wouldn't find him. The conversation from the night before rushes back, and the guilt immediately overwhelms him from the question Felicity had told him his son had asked her. If he still loved him. It wasn't like he was avoiding his son, because that was never his intention. But if his son ever had to question his love for him, then he hasn't done his job as a father.

Not letting himself dive into a pity party, he stands up determined and heads to Tommy's room.

Stopping in front of the sleeping tot, he slowly sits down on the toddler sized bed. Despite the careful movements, there's still ripples that shake the little boy slightly.

"Daddy?"

"Hey Buddy, I didn't mean to wake you" he says laying his hand instantly on the boy's chest.

Tommy rubs his eyes, shaking the sleep out of them.

"You came home."

"Yeah, I did. Look Tommy, I know that I've been really busy lately and I am so sorry for that. I love you so much, I need you to know that."

"I know that daddy" he says sitting up and throwing his arms around his neck and hugging him. "I love you daddy" he whispers.

"I love you too" Oliver says laying a kiss on the boy's head. "Hey do you wanna help daddy make breakfast?'

Pulling back, Tommy's arms still wrapped around his father's neck.

"Yeah!"

"Ok let's go" he says picking Tommy up and heads downstairs.

The smell of bacon, eggs, and pancakes fill the large home half an hour later, causing his guests to emerge from their rooms.

When they walk through the archway, Oliver is cutting pancakes in small pieces for his son, who is squirming in excitement in his high chair.

"Alright little guy, there you go."  
Turning around, he is faced with the four people who haven't talked to him much after he told them of their deaths.

Robert is the first to step forward and says, "Hi."

"Oliver, we need to talk" Tommy says stepping beside Robert. "Look man, I hate being mad at you and not being able to talk to you."

"You have every right to be mad at me, I shouldn't have said what I did."

"Yeah, but it wasn't like you killed us… you didn't kill us, did you?"

"No! No, God no."

"Ok then. Then while I'm here, I would rather be on good terms with you."

"I agree son, no matter how long we're here, I would really like to get to see the man you have become. Right Moira?"

Up until that moment, he hadn't paid attention to the two women in the background.

A tinge of irritation and conflict paint his mother's features, but she immediately goes soft at the sight of her grandson. Taking a deep breath, she meets her son's eyes.

"Yes."

For the first time since they arrived all those days ago, a burden lifts off of Oliver's chest, that he didn't realize was there.

"Laurel" Tommy whispers, "we talked about this."

With pursed lips, her eyes meet her ex's.

"No. Everyone else here has a purpose to forgive you, but I don't. To me all of this was supposed to be mine."

Tommy sighs with his eyes closed.

"Oh, Laurel."

"No, I'm not going to just stand here and pretend everything is ok."

"Laurel, its ok. I understand, it's not fair to you to not see the life you had hoped for. I do hope you forgive me one day, but I do understand."

And with that confession, he leaves his ex, wide eyed and jaw slacked.

"Who are you" she mutters under her breath, but he still catches it.

With a small smile he turns back to his son and simply says, "There's breakfast hot and ready over there."

Later that day, Tommy walks through the long hallway, and there's a knock on the door. Stopping in his path, he looks around to find nobody anywhere to be found. Thinking that it's one of those Jahovaswitniss, he shakes his head and continues to make his way to the kitchen.

The doorbell goes off this time. Looking from left to right, he still finds the halls empty as the desert. Deciding to see who it is, he walks up to the grand chestnut door and turns the brass knob. The door flies open and he is met with a teenage boy with a bag littered with lightning bolts.

A crease occupies his forehead as he looks around the porch for another person.

"Can I help you?"

The boy looks nervous as he avoids eye contact.

"You lost kid? Where's your mom?"

Before the boy can answer the question, a loud cheerful voice yells, "William!".

The footsteps get closer and closer until Tommy is pushed to the side by the three-year-old.

The little boy wraps his arms around the teens legs, who immediately puts his hands on the young boys back.

"Hi Tommy."

"Oh Will, I missed you."

"I missed you too."

"William" Felicity says waddling down the hall as Tommy turns around from the scene before him.

"Mommy, Will's here" her son says while pulling him inside.

"I see that, you're early" she says ushering him in.

"Yeah, there was an earlier flight and mom said I could go" he says hugging her.

"Well I'm glad she did."

"Where's dad?"

"Oh, he's in the back. Here I'll take your bag."

"Oh, no it's ok I got it."

"Will come on, Uncle Barry and Uncle Digg are here" the excited little boy tells his brother as he pulls him towards the back of the house.

Felicity turns her attention back to the shocked man standing by the open door.

"What just happened?"

"It's a long story, come on" Felicity says grabbing his arm and follows her boys to the backyard.

When the two adults finally make it to the large backyard, Oliver is already embracing William, and Barry and John share bright smiles as they also greet the teenager.

"What are you doing here Uncle Barry?" William asks excitedly.

Ever since he had found out that one of his dad's best friends was his childhood hero, they hit it off immediately.

"Oh, you know trying to keep your dad out of trouble."

"I thought that was Digg's job."

"Oh, did you not get the memo, it's a two-man job, and since Felicity is a little out of it these days, I am here to step in."

"I heard that" Felicity says continuing to walk towards them.

And Oliver only gives his friend, a hard glare, as William and John laugh whole-heartedly.

Taking in his surroundings for the first time since he arrived, William sees unfamiliar faces in the garden.

"Dad I didn't know you had company, I would've come another week."

"No! No, if fine, they kind of showed up… unexpectedly."

"Who are they?" he whispers.

Exchanging glances between his two friends, he gets a head nod from Digg, and a shoulder shrug from Barry. Deciding not to lie to his son, he wraps his arm around the teens shoulders and gets closer to him. Whispering, he starts explaining what's going on.

"Those people are my parents, and two really good friends of mine."

Confusion paints William's face.

"Wait I thought you said your parents were de…" he drops the last word, when he notices his brother watching both of them. "Not alive."

Taking a deep breath, Oliver tries to think of a way to explain this without sounding crazy but came up blank.

"They are."

Seeing his friend struggle, Barry steps in.

"That's sort of why I'm here, to help solve this little problem."

Pursing his lips, William stays quite for a moment and tries to process everything that was just said.

"So, they're what, from the…past" he asks whispering the last word.

"Yeah."

"Ok" he says slowly nodding his head. "Cool."

Before he can say anything more, Tommy and Felicity finally make it over to them, with Felicity heavily leaning on him.

"So, Ollie, is there any other surprises you would like to spring on me today? I think I am somewhat recovered from the biggest bomb that will be landed on my poor beautiful head."

Rolling his eyes, Oliver smirks at his friend, because despite everything, Tommy can still find humor in a bad situation.

"I don't think we've met." Tommy says directing his attention to the two men behind Oliver, while still balancing Felicity.

"Barry Allen" Barry says shaking his hand.

"John Diggle."

Squinting his eyes, Tommy says, "You look familiar, have we met before?"

"I don't think so." Digg said.

"Hmmm, I could have sworn I've seen you somewhere." Shaking his head, he lets it go. "It must be all those alcoholic drinks I've consumed over the years, it can really mess with you. And that is why drinking is bad, unless you're trying to have a good time, then it's fine." He says directing his comment to William.

"Or don't drink at all, that's a better idea" Felicity quickly pitches in.

"Yeah you're not drinking for years."

"I know dad."

"Dad?" Tommy's blue eyes meet Oliver's.

At this point, He notices he has collected a crowed, with his parents and Laurel, no longer looking at the pink roses Felicity is quite proud of.

With the silence covering the group, his eyes meet Felicity's and with a small smile she encourages him to introduce one of his proudest parts of his life.

"Everyone this is William… my son."

"Son?" Moira asks

"And you know what, I think that is my que to leave" Barry says already making small steps out of the circle that has been formed.

"Yeah, I'm right behind you." Digg says casually.

Before going through the door, Barry turns around and says, "Oh and I'll let you know if there's anything new."

And with that, they were gone.

"We have a lot of catching up to do." Felicity says trying to lighten the mood, but only succeeding in being glared out.

"And to think I was going to get a break" she mutters and sighs.

Later that night everyone is enjoying their meals. No one had broached the subject of William since they were outside earlier in the day, but Moira decided to start it again.

Wiping her mouth, she puts her napkin back in her lap. "So, William, how old are you?"

"I'm 14."

That stops her, "14?"

"Yes."

Oliver sees her do the math in her head and intently think.

"2021… that would mean that you were born in 2007."

That year peeks Laurel's interest. "2007? That's where we're from." And everything starts to dawn on her. "That's when we're together. Are you saying that you cheated on me with this bitch, 14 years ago?" She asks angrily.

"LAUREL" Oliver and Tommy all but shout. Oliver looks over to see his youngest son watching him from his best friend's lap, with a tinge of fear and curiosity.

"Don't you dare speak to my wife like that."

"You didn't answer the question. Did you or Did you not?"

"No."

"Oh, you're saying that he's mine, because that seems unlikely, unless…"

"He's not yours either." He lets his sentence fade. Catching a glimpse at his mother, he sees her eyes bore into him; she knows and she's not too happy about it.

"Maybe we should talk about this another time" Felicity starts only to be cut off by Laurel.

"No, I want to hear it right now."

Pursing her lips and glaring at her husband's ex-girlfriend, Felicity decides to take the high road, and not make a scene in front of her sons. Taking a deep breath, she gets up and walks over to Tommy.

"Ok, bath time" she says in a half cheery voice.

"But mama" her little boy whined.

"If your good, you can ask Will to play Legos with you."

That statement wins him over in a heartbeat and hops off of Oliver's best friends' lap.

Taking his mother's hand, they walk over to William next.

She lays a hand on his shoulder, "and what about you? Shower?"

"Yeah" he says nodding his head slightly and standing up from his chair. "Thanks dad, dinner was awesome as usual."

"You're welcome."

As they walk out of the room, Tommy says, "Bye Uncle Tommy!"

"Bye little man."

And with that, there were five.

When Oliver knew his family was upstairs, he meets Laurel's eyes.

"That was not necessary."

"Oh, I beg to differ, now answer the question."

"Look Laurel, William is not yours or Felicity's. His mother's name is Samantha, and she was a drunken one-night stand that was a mistake, end of story."

"You are unbelievable."

"Why, because I was unfaithful to you and my mistakes finally caught up to me? Oh, come on Laurel, you knew who I was back then, and yet you still took me back no matter how many times I was unfaithful to you."

"And yet you walk around with a ring on your finger pretending that none of that happened."

Slamming his hands on the table, Oliver stands up. "I don't pretend that my past never existed, Felicity knows who I was and who I am, and yet she still loves me."  
"Oh, and when I try to do it, it's wrong, but when she does it, it's ok."

"Because at least she gets the hint."

"Ok, ok. Let's take a few steps back." Tommy says trying to get Oliver to sit back down. "I think this has been a fabulous session of couple's therapy, or in your case, ex-couple." The statement earns him a glare from both parties. "Sorry not helping."

"Oliver sit down" Moira says for the first time since she brought up the subject.

When he is seated, and still fuming, she starts talking again.

"How?"

"I didn't know about him at first, if that's what your asking. In fact, I didn't find out about him until nine years later. And the only reason I found out in the first place was because I was visiting Barry in Central City and I just so happened to run into Samantha. Apparently, she had never told him I was his father."

"Wait, Moira you knew?" Robert asks looking at his wife in confusion.

"Yeah mom, tell dad what you did. How you got rid of the problem."

She keeps a straight face and doesn't say a word.

"No? Ok I will. When I told her that Samantha was pregnant, she gave her a one-million-dollar check to lie and tell me she lost the baby."

"Moira."

Standing up, Oliver has had enough. "I hope your happy mom, because I missed out on the first 10 years of my kid's life."

"Oliver you were not ready to take on that responsibility, you were not ready to be a father."  
"And who's decision was that to make? It sure as hell wasn't yours."

"Oliver…"

"No mom, I have held resentment towards you for a lot of things over the years, but this one takes the cake. I'm just glad I found him when I did, and he knows that I didn't just abandon him like some dead-beat father. I love both of my sons with all of my heart and no amount of space or money can take me away from them."

And with that he left the room with Laurel boiling, Robert stunned, Moira irritated, and Tommy confused.

Later that night, Oliver knocks on William's door lightly, only to be met with a scene that warms his heart. Tommy was laying on the floor with his brother building a tower out of Legos.

On the other side of the hall, Felicity walks out of the bathroom, and heads towards him.

"Hey, are you ok?"

Putting his hands in his pocket, he meets her eyes.

"Yeah, are you?"

"Oh yeah, you forget this isn't the first time I've had to endure the wrath of Angry Laurel Lance. It's such a shame, because I know how nice she can be, but I know for a fact I won't be seeing that version of her anytime soon."

"Yeah, that probably won't happen" he says bringing her into a hug.

"I was just gonna put Tommy to bed."

"Ok" he says as they peek back into the room.

When they walk in, both boys look up.

"Mama, daddy look what we made."

"That is so cool!" Oliver says watching his son so excited.

"Alright little man, it's bed time." Felicity says holding her hands out.

"But mama, I want to stay up with Will" he whines.

"William will be here when you wake up, I promise."

Tommy looks at his brother for confirmation and gets a smile and nod.

"Goodnight Tommy."

"Goodnight Will" he says giving his older brother a hug.

Running over to his mother, he looks back, "Daddy?"

"I'll be right there to tuck you in."

"Ok, but hurry."

Hearing the tiny footsteps disappearing, Oliver turns to his oldest, who has put the Legos away and is now sitting on the bed.

"William, I wanted to apologize for dinner."

"It's ok dad."

"No, it's not" he says taking a seat beside him. "No one gets to talk about you disrespectfully and get away with it."

"That lady wasn't very happy with me."

"That's because before you were born I dated her."

"Wait, you weren't always with Felicity?"

"Oh no, no I didn't meet Felicity until about 9 years ago."

"Really?"

"Really"

"Wow, because you guys act like you've known each other for a long time."

"It feels like it. Look William I need you to know that I love you no matter what."

"I know dad, I love you too."

"Goodnight William."

The rest of the weekend, Oliver spends as much time with William as possible, taking him to a baseball game. He also took Felicity and Tommy along for a movie with William.

Sunday night came way too soon, and Oliver was dropping William back off at the airport.

"Well I guess I'll see you in a couple weeks?"

"I wouldn't have it any other way. Good luck on your your math test, and your science project, I want to hear everything about it." He says embracing his son in a hug, which he gladly accepts.

"I promise." Releasing the hug, William meets his father's eyes. "And dad it was nice to meet your family, even if they weren't as thrilled to meet me."

"Hey they were happy, they just have a different way of showing it."

"I did like your friend Tommy, now I understand why you named Tommy after him, he's pretty cool."

"Yeah he is."

"And dad one last thing."

"Yeah?"

"I'm really proud to be apart of this family, and I can't wait to meet my baby sister."

"William that means the world to me to hear you say that, and the minute she arrives I promise you will be the first person to know."

Giving his father a final hug, with one last 'I love you', he's gone to board the plane.

When Oliver arrives back home, he is greeted to his best friend and father sitting on the back porch with a beer in their hands watching Tommy and Felicity sitting on a blanket playing with his Flash and Green Arrow action figures.

"Hey."

"Hey, the kid gone?"

"Yeah, back to Central City."

"When do you get to see him again?" His father asks.

"A couple weeks. Samantha and I have an agreement that every other weekend Will comes up."

"That must be exhausting." Tommy pitches in.

"Yeah, well it's better than not seeing him until the summer."

"Have you asked her to move here, make it more convenient for you?"

"The idea has come up, but she has a life there and so does William, just the fact that I get to see him is more than enough for me."

"I am proud of you son. He is a very smart and amazing young man."

"Thanks dad."

"Yeah Ollie, you really have grown up. That makes me wonder, do I have an unknown kid out there, I mean you have two going on three."

"God, I hope not, I don't think the world could handle another Merlyn."

"First of all, rude."

"And the second thing?"

"Oh, there was just one."

"Oh Merlyn, how I've missed you" he says chuckling.

After putting Tommy to bed that night, his phone rings.

"Hello?"

"Hey man, we found Slade."

"We're on our way."

Once Oliver and Felicity make it to the bunker, they are greeted to Team Flash, John, and Roy."

"Where is he?"

"We located him at a warehouse on Peele and Wake." Cisco answers.

"And to have thought they just up and left" Felicity murmured.

"That's on the outskirts of the Glades."  
"Yep."

"Alright, let's suit up."

15 minutes later Green Arrow, Spartan, Arsenal, and Flash all scope out the warehouse from the van.

"What do you have Overwatch?"

"There seems to be 20 heat signatures in the building."

"How much do you want to bet all those bodies aren't Slade's?" Roy mutters.

"Where are they?"

"Most of them are in the North East Corner. And then there are a few stragglers in the West and South wings."

"Alright we'll split up. Spartan, Arsenal you take the North, Barry take the South and I'll take the West."

And with a sign of understanding, they all part ways.

Barry is the first one to arrive at his post, finding one guard, who he quickly disarms and knocks out.

A blue blinking light catches his eye on the other side of the room. "What's that?"

Opening the box, the light came from, he finds a bomb counting down. "Oh no."

"What is it Flash?"

"There's a bomb, and it's been activated."

"When you say activated, what do you mean?" Cisco asks frightened to know the answer.

"Meaning that if we don't disarm it, it'll go off in 15 minutes."

"Ok Barry just cut the yellow wire."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm pretty sure" Felicity says, with her voice faltering.

"Ok, here goes nothing."

Cutting the yellow wire does the opposite of what Felicity had hoped it would do.

"Umm Felicity it only made it worse, now it's down to five minutes."

"Crap. Ok, just give me a minute."

On the North side of the building John and Roy make it to the back room. Kicking down the door, they are met to 18 hostages tied up and gagged.

"We found the hostages, we're going to get them out of here." Digg says.

"Well you better hurry, Barry found a bomb, and Felicity's trying to disarm it." Cisco says.

"How long do we have?"

"Five minutes" Caitlyn says for the first time.  
"Digg we can't get all these people out in 5 minutes." Roy says looking around.

"We've got to try" John says making his way to the first hostage and unbinding him.

When the first ones are free, John tells them to help free the others, which they do.

On the other side of the building, Oliver finally arrives to a vacated hallway with one light shining at the end. Kicking down the door he is met to a pitch-black room. Suddenly a single light shines down on a case beside him and more follow in front of him, all landing on different cases.

Looking at the cases for the first time he notices each hold a memento. The first box incases the white mask of the man who first tortured him, Billy Wintergreen. The one across from that one has Shado's old hood with a gun lying beside it. The next one has a piece of Sara's original mask as the Black Canary slashed into shreds.

And across from that, a case that holds Slade's eye, and the arrow Oliver used to stop him before he left Lian Yu, embedded in it.

The mementos strike memories for him causing him a massive headache as the memories come back full force. The pain associated with the moments hit him as if he were reliving them, then and there. The pain of him being tortured and reliving Shado and Sara's deaths.

When he reaches the last one, Slade's voice comes from different directions, causing Oliver to look around as he continues to hold his aching head.

"What do you think kid? Bring back any memories?"

At this point his eyes are closed tightly together trying to block out the pain.

"Every ounce of pain that litters these shelves were caused by you. Your sins will never be forgiven, they will follow you to the grave and beyond. And when you're rotting in hell, just remember who you dragged with it."

He didn't understand what that last sentence meant.

Slade's voice continues to come from all different directions, and the room is spinning at this point until he stops in front of what looks like Slade's suit, at the front of the circle.

After nothing works, Cisco goes and tries something else.

"Ok new plan, can you move it?"

"No, it's too big."

"Yeah and even if he did it would only advance the process." Felicity says irritated. As she continues to work trying to figure out how to disarm it, she keeps coming up short. "ARGGH, this cannot be happening."

"Guys a plan would be great because we're down to a minute and a half."

"How are you doing Spartan?" Cisco asks

"Almost have everybody freed."

The clock was down to 30 seconds and hope was being lost.

"I can't just stand here and do nothing" Barry says. Without another thought he runs to the hostages and one by one, gets them out.

By the time everyone is out, including John and Roy, Barry goes back to the bomb that now reads 5 seconds.

"Felicity!"

"I got it!"

And with one final press of a button, the bomb is deactivated at one second. Letting out a sigh of relief, Barry says, "It's off, it's disarmed."

Leading to more sighs of relief.

"Where's Oliver?" John asks over the comms.

"You're not going to win" the bow is drawn, his finger waiting for the trigger.

"But I already have."

And without a second thought, he lets go and nothing but the swoosh of the arrow could be heard through his ear drums. The moment the arrow pierces its target, he lets out a breath. Moments of silence hold the seconds in slow motion.

He had done it, he killed the man who had caused so much pain to his life. His once friend turned enemy was no longer a threat to his family, and after more than a decade he can finally breathe.

All those thoughts come crashing down on him, when a deep cynical laugh is heard from every corner of the room.

"Oh, kid you make me laugh, if you honestly thought it would be that easy to kill me, you truly are naïve. Have fun telling her husband and three children that their mother will never come home."

Letting his bow drop to his side, he recovers from his shock and rushes over to the Death Stroke suit. Kneeling down, he removes the mask and finds a woman with her eyes closed, and glasses hanging off her nose, and blonde hair splayed out on the ground. A gasp takes over him and he can't say anything. He is absolutely stunned.

Barry arrives a little while later, and the first thing he sees is Oliver crouched over.

"Oliver what…?"

When he sees the dead woman, he stops in his tracks.

"Oliver?"

"I'm going to kill him."

Felicity knocks lightly, then enters with a coffee in her hand. Oliver doesn't notice she's entered, so she tries to make her presence known by sliding the coffee in front of him.

When he still doesn't move, she tries to break the tension with a joke.

"Such a shame you get to have a luxury I would kill for right about now."

When his eye doesn't even flinch, she looks down and decides to try another tactic to get through to him. Using the one thing that get through to both of them, the simple act of touch. Slowly, she brings her hand to his shoulder, careful not to spook him, and gently touches his him. That tiny touch alone, brings him back to Earth, and he blinks for the first time since she's entered.

"Hey, what happened tonight? You haven't said a word since you came back. What's going on?"

For the first time that night he makes eye contact, but quickly looks down in shame. Immediately noticing his closed off behavior, she takes a seat, as best as she can on the corner of his desk.

"I haven't seen you this broken up since Chase…" she looks down. "Well you know."

He locks his jaw at the mention of Chase and her prying.

Knowing that he's not going to say anything without force, she grabs the Scotch out of his hand and surprisingly he gives it up without resistance. Setting the glass down soundlessly on the desk, she grabs his face in her hands and makes him look her in the eye.

"Talk to me. Please."

Meeting her eyes, he has this look of pure devastation, and tears shining in his eyes. He whispers the simple words, "I killed her."

Squinting her eyes in confusion, Felicity says, "What?"

"I killed her."

"Oliver, sweetheart, you're not making sense."

Looking back down, avoiding her searching eyes, he continues.

"When I got there, there were boxes of everything that held memories on the island. They were surrounding me, suffocating me. Flashes of the darkest moments of my life came back to me. I was confused, I-I didn't know what was going on. And then his voice encircled me. It was everywhere. And then I saw him, and I didn't think twice, I let the arrow go."

At this point Felicity is hanging onto every single word. She doesn't know what's going on, but she's trying to.

"And it pierced him. That was it, that was the end of his reign. But I was wrong. He laughed, he taunted me, and now I…I killed a woman. I did it all over again. I killed an innocent person."

Tears are streaming down his cheeks freely with no end in sight.

Finally understanding what has haunted the man before her, she immediately feels his pain penetrating her soul, trying to make him not take the whole burden upon his shoulders.

"Oliver" she whispers while mindlessly rubbing comforting circles along his back.

Oliver doesn't register her touch, he's lost in his mind replaying the horror show, over and over again. Standing up, he paces in front of her.

"I killed a mother who will NEVER get the opportunity to watch her children grow up. I have to tell her husband and her three children that their mother will never come home. That he will never see his wife again."

"Oliver"

"No, I did. I didn't just break my promise to never kill again, but I killed an innocent, AGAIN. I ended someone who had so much hope and promise for this world, and I took her from it."

Reaching for his hand, she slightly grasps it, only for him to yank it away quickly, knowing he doesn't deserve her touch.

"Oliver, this isn't your fault. This is on Slade."

At the statement, Oliver quickly turns on his heel towards her.

"Slade didn't let go of the arrow that pierced her heart. I DID!"

Hysterical doesn't begin to describe his state at this point. His hands are trembling, body's shaking from the adrenaline coursing through his veins, and anger overflows his body.

Grabbing the glass of Scotch, he long discarded, he throws it into the flames, taunting him with sparks spitting out with fury. At the sound of glass shattering, Felicity stands up and tries to calm him down.

Deciding that's not enough, his desk is next to take his rage. Sliding his hands with precision, all the contents meet the wall with loud thuds. The sound makes Felicity flinch with her eyes closed.

Feeling the anger fading away, only to be replaced with despair, and he just stops.

Opening her eyes, when she doesn't hear anything, Felicity sees him standing there and looking at nothing.

"What if it was you?"

"That's impossible, I was safely secured in the bunker."

"But I didn't know that, she looked just like you. The blonde hair and glasses. I wouldn't be surprised if she had blue eyes just like yours. Felicity she was…"

Realization finally hits her, a part of him thought that in that moment that he killed her.

Pushing it down to comfort him, because she can't deal with that right now.

Before she can say anything, Oliver's balance is lost and he stumbles, only to hit the wall. Sliding down, a sob escapes his throat and wracks his body violently.

Quickly getting to the floor, Felicity slides beside him, and brings his head to her chest in comfort. The moment his ears reach the steady beat of her heart, he wraps his arms around her, and feels her safety and cries. She rocks him as she would her son and soothes him. He holds on as if she were the last thing tethering him to this world.

So, I know I lied about William not being in the story, but I had the scene with Tommy opening the door and finding this kid with a Flash backpack standing outside by himself, come to me, and I just figured why not add William to the mix. On top that, I really needed something light and happy for the group before everything turned to hell for them. I also thought it would make good conversation for Moira to find out that the baby that she told Samantha to get rid of was at the same dinner table. Anyway, I hoped you enjoyed this chapter, and I would love to hear what you thought.


	10. Chapter 10

The next morning, Oliver wakes up still pressed against Felicity's chest with his arms around her stomach. Looking up, he sees a crease between her eyebrows, indicating that she's uncomfortable.

A sense of guilt immediately overcomes him and he sits up. Holding his head from the sudden dizziness, he looks around the room and takes into account the mess around him.

Shattered glass and papers littered the hardwood floor. Moving his hand, it comes into contact with a broken picture frame of Tommy, Felicity, and himself. Letting out a deep sigh, he slowly lifts himself up and looks at Felicity's form. Her back is arched, and her legs are spread out like they were cramped.

He slowly bends down and lifts her effortlessly. Leaving his office, he immediately sees his son running down the stairs.

The first thing he notices on the tot's face is the glint of excitement in his eyes. Before he can utter a word, Oliver puts his right index finger to his lips. The little boy presses his lips together and mimics his father with his finger to his lips.

Nodding in acknowledgement, Oliver silently goes up the stairs, while Tommy runs down them.

Once he reaches the master bedroom, he gently lays Felicity down on the bed, pulls over the covers and gets her comfy. Laying a kiss to her forehead, he slowly stands up and lets his fingers linger in her blond locks.

After a moment his senses catch up to him and the first thing that hits him is the smell of cinnamon rolls.

Confusion paints his features as he walks down the stairs following the sweet aroma.

The scene that meets him when he arrives in the kitchen, makes him stop. His mother is cutting up pieces for her grandson.

"There you go Tommy."

Looking up she sees Oliver standing at the entrance of the kitchen looking shocked.

"Good morning Oliver, are you hungry?"

He is at a loss for words.

"Mom… you cook?"

Turning to start making him a plate, she says,

"I may have picked it up over the years. Come sit down." He sees everyone's eyes on their plates, and Moira sets down a plate with 2 cinnamon rolls and some scrambled eggs in  
front of him. "I made it the way you like it, extra cinnamon."

Giving her a kind smile, he says "Thank you mom." What he didn't know was that all four of them had heard his meltdown and saw him sobbing in Felicity's arms.

After breakfast, Tommy is playing with Moira and was plenty occupied.

Going upstairs, he checks on a still sleeping Felicity. The wrinkle in her brow, has vanished since the last time he saw her, indicating that she is no longer in pain. Deciding he  
doesn't want to bother her, he softly closes the door and goes down to the garage.

When the door clicks shut, the only thing accompanying him is the silence. Standing in the middle of the minimalistic space, stood his motorcycle.

20 minutes came and went when Barry showed up. Seeing that Oliver is lost in thought working on the engine, he takes slow and cautious steps.

"Hey."

At the voice, Oliver stops the motion of the wrench and puts it down.

"Hey."

"How are you?"

"Fine. Any news on the Slade front?"

"None, Cisco's still working on that."

Oliver only nodded, still looking away.

"But that's not why I'm here. I'm here because of what happened yesterday."

"I really am fine, Barry. At least as much as I can be after killing an innocent person" he mutters.

"Oliver it was an accident."

"I still did it and that is unforgivable" he says turning abruptly.

"I know that I can't say anything that will make you feel better, but you're always telling me that sometimes we have to make unforgivable sacrifices. It's part of the job."

"It's still not right."

"I know."

After a minute in silence, Barry finally accepts that he won't get through to Oliver and that he just needs space.

"Hey just let me know if there is anything I can do, ok?

Oliver meets his eyes.

"Yeah, ok. I will."

When Barry is satisfied with the answer, he nods once and leaves.  
-

Later that night, Oliver is walking the grounds of his backyard with his little boy.

"Daddy, will I be a hero like you?" he asks skipping and holding his father's hand.

"Someday."

"Daddy look its mommy" Tommy says pointing excitedly to Felicity who is smiling at them from the porch.

"Go" he says chuckling.

And without another thought, the little boy runs to the porch doors and into his mother's arms. Watching the woman, he loves, pick their son up and kiss his head and cuddle him into her shoulder, brings a whole new level of love to him.

As they disappear through the doors of the house, he starts walking to catch up, when Laurel stops right in front of him.

"Laurel" he says stunned.

"Why Ollie?"

"Why what?"

"Why her?"

Sighing Oliver realizes that the conversation he has been dreading the most has finally come.

"I mean what could have possibly happened that would have made you trade me for her? I don't understand, Ollie, we were perfect together. We had plans, we had dreams. What  
changed?"

Taking a deep breath, he finally let's his heart say the words he couldn't fathom 20 years ago.

"Laurel look, we weren't perfect, in fact we were far from it. I cheated on you… multiple times and somehow you Always took me back-"

"Because I loved you."

"No, because you loved the idea of me, my life, and the life we could have had. Laurel you wanted it all, the big house, the wedding, the kids, and at the time that terrified me,  
because I didn't want that."

"And yet you got it, all of it."

"Laurel, I didn't realize this until years later, but when the time came, I finally realized why you held on for so long, why I held on for so long. You held on because you had this  
vision of me taking over my father's place in the company and us living this glamour's life of fame and fortune. But while you were so stuck in this fantasy, you didn't even see what I wanted. Laurel, I am not proud of my past, but I couldn't be the man you wanted me to be, so I did the one thing I did best, I rebelled. I thought that if I slept around, that you would get the picture and you wouldn't want anything to do with me, but I couldn't have been more wrong, you kept taking me back again, and again."

"So why did you hold on Ollie?"

"Because you were all I knew."

"Then why am I not the one in that house right now? Why her?"

He knew the question was coming and he couldn't tell her the whole truth of why she isn't in that kitchen, so he goes for the emotional truth.

"Because she's my partner, not just in our marriage, but in life. If Felicity has taught me anything, it is that you can't win a mission if your partner's not in it. She sees me for the  
good parts and the bad, she inspires me to be a better man for her. She loves me for who I am, rich or poor, good or bad. If I'm being honest with you, if I had to live the rest of my life without her, I don't know if I could do it. She's the light of my life. Laurel I need you to understand, that I will always love you, that you will always have a special part in my heart. But at the end of the day, I am not the person you were meant to be with, and if I'm being honest, we would've never worked out in the long run, because we both wanted something different."

Laurel looks down absolutely heartbroken, and it kills Oliver to see the woman who gave up everything for him, so broken. She deserved happiness, especially now that he  
shattered all of her dreams, and without thinking, he says the one thing he thinks will cheer her up.  
Taking her hands in his, he says, "I may not have been your guy, but Tommy is."

"What?"

"You were meant to be with Tommy, and I screwed that up. That is one of my biggest regrets, because deep down, I knew that we wouldn't work, but I was my selfish ass of a person and took advantage of you anyways. Tommy deserves you. I don't."

She pulls her hands out of his and shakes her head in confusion.

"I don't understand. What do you mean Tommy and I were supposed to be together? He never showed interest."

"He always showed interest, but you were to blind to see it. My point is, Tommy loves you."

Taking in the information that just attacked her, Laurel takes a deep breath, looks down, and walks away towards the house without another word.

Oliver watched as she left, and soon went in himself. When he reached the master bedroom, he sees Felicity brushing her hair at her vanity.

"Hey" she says happily.

"Hi" he says a bit sullenly.

"Are you ok?" she asks slowing her arm.

"Um… I just told Laurel that Tommy is in love with her."

"What? Why?" she asks turning to look at him.

"She cornered me and started asking me why I didn't love her and then I told her that Tommy was in love with her."

Felicity has put down her brush down and given him her full attention. He is pacing at this point.

"Well what did she say?"

"Nothing. She looked down and then walked away."

"Well I mean, we've already told them everything but your big green secret so I think you're fine."

He stops in his tracks and looks at her.

"I just feel like it shouldn't have come from me."

"I know, but at least now she knows the truth."

Sighing, all he says is "I guess."

Sitting on the edge of the bed, he looks at his hands.

"So, how do you feel now that the woman who has been in love with you all of her life, knows you're not?"

"Honestly? Relieved. I feel like that was the one secret I've been keeping from her all of our life. And now that I know there was someone who loved her unconditionally, makes me  
feel better."

"Well you did the right thing" she says getting up and walking between his legs. She caresses her finger to his cheek, causing him to bring his head to her chest. Laying a kiss to  
the crown of his head, they stay in that moment of bliss.  
-

The next day the sun is shining in the late afternoon, casting upon two figures on the living room floor. Little Tommy is happily building a 'city', as he keeps calling the many Lego buildings surrounding him and Moira. After putting a final Lego on a building, he grabs two action figures.

"Here, you can be the Flash. William usually plays as him, be he's not here, so you can play with him."

Her eyes go wide as he speaks a mile a minute, and without knowing it, her lips turn up into a small smile.

"But, who would you be?"

Without warning, he raises up the other figure in his hand.

"The Green Arrow" he says excitedly.

"Ooh the Green Arrow" she says matching his excitement.

"Yeah!"

Looking around, he whispers,

"Do you want to know a secret?"

"What's that?" she asks leaning towards him.

"My dad's the Green Arrow. That's why, I always play as him."

Thinking that this was just another thing a toddler says, she plays into his secret and gasps.

"Oh really? She asks continuing to play along.

"Yeah, I want to be just like my daddy when I grow up."

Not knowing what the confession means, she brushes it off and just admires how much this little boy loves his father.

"Ok, so what do I do?"

"There's people in trouble, we have to save them" he says in hysterics, only a 3-year-old can.

"Ok, then let's save them, Green Arrow."

Later that night, Oliver is sitting in his study, looking over documents when there is a light knock on the door.

"Come in" he says not looking up from the paper.

The door opens and Laurel walks in.

Looking up, his eyes go wide in shock.

"Laurel. Hi" he says sitting up and pushing the documents to the side.

She opens her mouth and nothing comes out. Closing her eyes, she takes a deep breath.

"You know, I came in here expecting to yell and lash out all of my anger on you, but now all I feel like saying is… thank you."

"You're… welcome? I don't understand, what are you thanking me for? If anything I should be apologizing because telling you about Tommy was out of line and-"

"No, it wasn't. In fact, I'm very grateful that you told me. I'm not saying that I'm happy you married and built a life with another woman, but it's nice to know that there is someone out there who loves me."

Giving a shy smile, Oliver looks down and then back at her.

"Honestly me too."

Standing up, he goes around his desk and stands in front of her.

"And it also gives me closure. So… thank you."

"Laurel, I need you to know that I will always love you, just not the way you want."

"I know."

And without another word, she turns around and exits the room. Leaving Oliver to replay the scene that just occurred before him.

After Laurel leaves Oliver's office she passes the kitchen. Felicity was drying the dishes. She was drying the last one when the white dish towel, slipped from her grip.

"Damn" she mutters under her breath.

Before she could even attempt to bend over a figure picked it up and held it out to her. When she looks up, she sees Laurel.

They both don't speak a word, and simply stare within each other's eyes with conflict and confusion.

"Thank you" Felicity eventually whispers, grabbing the white towel.

"You're welcome." She says clipped, then quickly adds, "I'd hate for you to get all the way down there and not be able to get back up."

"Yeah been there, done that, it's not fun."

They share a small chuckle, and Laurel nods once and walks out of the kitchen and up the stairs.

Felicity watches her every step and thinks about what just happened. Looking down at the towel, she can't help but think that this white towel, meant more than just picking it up  
to finish the final dish. But as a white flag; a truce. She can only hope that the latter option was it because while a lot has happened over the course of a couple days, one thing  
remains, she misses her friend. And while she knows they will never be friends, she likes to think that if they could be on good terms, that is win in her book.


End file.
